PlantFiles: Common Rue, Garden Rue, Herb of Grace, Herbygrass
Ruta graveolens

Rue is hardy for me in zone 6, PA. It self sows only moderately and has survived winters in sunny and half-shaded areas.The main stalk often drops its branches but remains viable, resprouting new side branches right up to the tip in spring.

Warnings for this plant involve the sap (although I have not experienced any trouble) and ingestion by pregnant women (do NOT).

Flowers are a nice shade of yellow but the blue-green foliage is the draw.

I see posts below mentioning butterfly larvae eating this plant. I have not observed that, although I have many other host plants in my garden and perhaps the butterflies lay eggs on those instead.

I like Rue for its foliage, form and hardiness.

seeking information on traditional chinese uses, both garden and medicinal, and/or significance of this plant. thanks. :)

I've grown Rue here for about three years now. As a Sicilian Strega it is an important part of my history. Rue is the scared plant to the Goddess Diana. Once in bloom it smells wonderful. I have never had a problem handling it, but I am careful if it is sunny out and I am cutting it. Gloves are smart in any gardening application to begin with.
I use the leaves to dry and press and create "The Protection of Diana" cards for give-a-aways for my business. I've used the leaves to imbed in soaps, and make oil sprays with.

Harvesting seeds tend to be difficult and I prefer to germinate from cutting.

It has never been a "keep away witchcraft" herb! Lol

Diana's followers have used this herb to dip it into the water gathered from Lake Nemi in Italy and bless each other. Many Italians are aware of the charm called a Cimaruta - "charm of rue". It is always cast in sterling silver and dates back to pre-Christian times. (the silver is to imitate the color of the moon, which is Diana's planet) The charm itself is a sprig of rue with various items hanging from the branches.

A few years ago I bought a plant and grew it in my garden for a year until I decided that didn't like it. I had already realised that when I brushed against it my skin became itchy for a while but it didn't really bother me much. However when I dug the plant out my hands burned fiercly for several days then as the skin hardened it itched almost unbearably for another few days then just itched irritatingly for several more days as large patches of discoloured skin came away. If that had been the end I would not be writing this now. My hands are now sensitive to many plants and will burn and blister and itch even if I just brush their leaves. I now have to wear gloves when gardening at all times, it has severely reduced my pleasure in gardening. Do not be complacent. Think very carefully before touching this plant and there is no way I would put it any where near my mouth.

Plant WARNING!!! I am sorry to say this......
This is my 3rd year of growing rue. During summer, it is always covered w/ B-fly cats. Just covered!
Last year I got it on my legs & learned I had developed "sensitivity".
You need to know what that means!
When I read some people could become "sensitive", I thought.... no big deal - tiny blisters, maybe.
W/ in 24 hrs of brushing against the plant I developed HUGE blisters on my legs. Some wrapped around the leg w/ dimensions in excess of 5"x4"! They literally covered my legs. The "deepest" one rose 1/2" off the surface of the skin. I was gauzed and taped for a couple of weeks. Needless to say, they left scars.
OK, I'm a butterfly fanatic, a really DUMB one, so I gloved up and carefully planted it again this year. I thought I'd plant it in a location where I could control my own access. You guessed it, I didn't control it as I had hoped. This weekend, I must have gotten some sap on me b/c I now have a blister on my knee 3"x2". It literally measured 3/4" off my leg b/f I had to drain it to reduce the pressure.
Yeah, I know I'm a dummy for planting it again, but I thought I'd structurally restrict my own access & if I still managed to get into it, I'd wash up very well & be sure to stay out of the sun. I thought I could just manage the plant now that I knew the risk..... Not so much...
I'm not trying to ruin this awesome butterfly plant for people, I just want to make sure people really UNDERSTAND the risk.
Make your decision about growing it accordingly.
I will say this... I only have butterfly babies. If I had human children, I would not risk planting it where they could come in contact with it! Good luck!

This is one of my favorite plants. I knew that it might cause dermatitis in some people but I have not suffered any problems from it. I learned here that it is the combination of sunlight and contact with the foliage that causes the problem. I have successfully grown Rue from cuttings without bottom heat and mist. It took a long time for it to strike roots. My plants have not flowered this year. We had a brutal winter of 2009 and it survived just fine. I like Rue because it does not get that inner blackening of foliage like many of the artemesias do. It looks nice with any color flower. I intend to move some Rue next to big bold leafed hostas. Slugs, deer, rabbits ignore this plant.

I put rue in a small pot on my fence last season (hung it on
my fence so my kitty wouldn't eat any). In no time I had 5
Giant Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars on it. Then, in less
than a week, they all got eaten by the birds! Well, at least
I know the plant is a definite BF favorite. And it has survived
the winter (currently with 5" of snow on it). I'll keep it around
for sure.

I love the foliage on this plant I planted five of them and lost two but plan on planting a lot more for next year. I have Giant Swallowtail caterpillars on it now so late in the season they won’t make it they are black with little gold dots on them I think they are that cat. Hopefully I’ll get more cats next year! Does this plant spread from underground runners? I have another plant coming up from the bottom of another plant :) May have been an extra seedling I didn’t know about but it is really smaller than the main plant like it just came up.

Rue, Ruta graveolens is a Naturalized plant in Texas.

After several years of trying to grow Rue from seed,
I was determined more than ever, so I dumped an
entire package of seed in a hole, marked it and
walked away.

My plant is now several years old, and I just love it!

The color, the foliage, the little yellow flowers, and
of course, the butterfly factor. I will be planting more Rue
this year, this time with freshly harvested seeds from
my own plant.

A good one indeed!

Out of all the beautiful things about this plant, it's most significant functions is to provide food for Black Swallowtails and Giant Swallowtail caterpillars.
It seems to be very hardy here in zone 8a. Already a few freezing days and it really looks great!

Right about now, our rue (rutaceae family) hedge is heavily populated with burgeoning black swallowtail caterpillars. We love the butterfly and find this stage of its caterpillar in our rue hedge one of the wonders of the summer. From the gusto with which these fast-fattening guys are chomping on the rue, you'd think the rue was kith or kin with these caterpillars' other favorites in the apiaceae (was umbelliferae) family (dill, fennel). Perhaps these caterpillars know something the taxonomists don't know?

My mom grows a lot of rue every year. We use it to make a traditional dessert sweet mung bean soup (we're Chinese) and it tastes great. Rue clears intestinal worms and is a safe pesticide for humans and animals.

My information says that Rue is hardy in zones 4-11, and indeed, it survives here in zone 5. It even self-seeds a little. I like the look of it; the foliage is attractive all season long. Light aids germination.

I was concerned about this plant after reading the comments here. I wrote to the nursery where I bought it and this is their response . . .

"Yes, it is edible. Rue is a traditional flavouring used in Greece and other Mediterranean countries

It is true that rue can cause skin rashes on some individuals. The rashes occur when a sensitive person's skin comes in contact with fresh rue foliage and that area of skin then is exposed to sunlight. The ultraviolet portion of natural sunlight triggers the skin reaction by potentitizing the rue compounds. If these same sensitive persons are exposed to fresh rue and not to UV light then the rash does not occur.

I have never heard of anyone suffering adverse reactions to rue's use in foods. When used sparingly as a flavouring the risk of skin rashes is apparently quite low. Rue's long history of use in food in europe and north africa would seem unlikely if it were poisonous to ingest.

As always, when introducing a new herb or spice to the diet it is good idea to test a small amount first. Stop using any herb or spice that causes any adverse reaction including allergic ones."

(I ate the leaves in a salad last night last night ... and I am still here!)

Marlene

I have found some crushed rue covered by a bandage on skin cysts or large blemishes tends to heal them very quickly. A skin cyst can disappear practically overnight. I have never had an adverse reaction. The smell is not heavenly! It does add a nice touch to my herb garden. I have it near orange mint, thyme, oregano and Lemonbalm. They all get along fine.

Here it is a "luck" plant. People use it to bring luck to their houses, either planting a cutting on their years, or just putting a branch in water. I find its odor somewhat unpleasant, and because I don't believe that a vegetable brings me good or bad luck, I just avoid it.

Loved your website. Told me what I needed to know about my rue, which I have had for 10 years, and weeded, and traded at the plant exchange. Well this year it "got" me. Too much close contact, wearing skimpy top, on a sunny day. Woke up with photodermatitis (looks a lot like poison ivy) which so far only hurts in one spot. I think I'll remove the two offending plants (they were too close to the walkway anyway) but not remove all of them. The grey-green foliage is so pretty. It doesn't seem to bother my hands and lower arms but boy, really got my upper arms and back.
Aside from that--just love the color and featheriness of the leaves. They do spread in my sandy loam garden but pull out easily when small (wear gloves!!)

I have very positive feelings about this plant's attractiveness and usefulness, but I also am typing this right now with several large blisters on my right arm from handling this plant. It's easy to grow from seed, easy to maintain, evergreen, and makes a nice small hedge to go with roses, herbs, or other plants that will benefit from a neat blue-green edging. This is the second time I've had a chemical reaction to this plant, and both times were when the weather was hot and sunny and I was perspiring. The plant is also attractive to the caterpillars of certain butterflies, but I can't warn strongly enough about using care when siting the plant and handling it.

one of this plants best qualities is its power to keep dogs out of the garden when used as a border plant, in certain cases it even keeps the cats away.I had a costomer who had a small garden on a busy street the dogs always peed on her plants so whe tried ruta and the dogs would go by like soldiers and pee just next door!i also had an experience with photodermatitis but i found that the plant will cause this when wet because i never had thet proplem before its only one day when it was raining and i cleaned a big batch i had second degree burns on the top of my hands! DO NOT TOUCH WHEN WET !!!8)

This plant looks really great in my garden. I really like the shape of the leaves and that it is evergreen like. I do not find it as invasive as other plants but it does spread out quite a bit. This brings me to why I gave this plant a neutral instead of a positive. I decided to thin out this plant 2 days ago... well I woke up yesterday to very red blotchy hands and wrists which didn't itch but sort of felt like I had a sunburn. Hummm what caused this I wondered. Well, last night this "rash" developed into lots of painful blisters (you could actually watch them develop) and today I am still covered in blisters. Honestly, I am not 100% sure that this plant has caused my condition since I have thinned this plant before with no problems but I know that I will be wearing gloves next year. :-)

Plant self-seeds somewhat, but not enough to be considered invasive; just enough to share with friends.

The phrase "You'll RUE the day..." comes from this plant, as touching it produces a dermatitis in many people. Mine produces lovely yellow flowers, and otherwise is just a nice blue-hued nice foliage plant in the bed.

Evergreen shrub from Southern Europe.

Has blue-green, pinnatisect, ovate, scented leaves. Bears yellow, 4 petalled, cup shaped flowers.

Flowers June-August

Likes fertile, well drained soil in sun or partial shaded positions. Has lived in dappled shade on clay here for several years quite happily.

Leaves may cause photodermatitis if touched, be especially careful if you have a sensetive skin and with children playing near the shrub. Can cause severe discomfort if eaten.

Rue has a long history in Europe, it was used to sprinkle holy water before high mass, which is where it earned a common name of Herb of Grace.

It was used as a strewing herb, anti-plague herb and as an insecticide/pesticide. Also once believed to be a witchcraft and an anti-witchcraft plant.

It has been used in medicine in the past and still has some uses today but should only be used under STRICT medical supervision. Never use when pregnant!

Homeopaths use a tincture of Rue in the treatment of arthritis, rheumatism and neuralgia. Herbalists might prescribe it for blood pressure problems, nervous problems, sciatica and epilepsy, they may use Rue in compresses for skin ulcers. It also has antiseptic properties.

It was once used as an eye bath and as an antidote to some poisons, insect stings and snake bites.

Its' roots yield a red dye.

It does have a culinary use if used sparingly but it is incredibly bitter and my note above about severe discomfort on ingestion is possible, its not a herb that suits everyone and there are better culinary herbs out there to use.

A curious note, Rue and mint don't grow well together, Rue is often the plant to come off worse from the pairing.