Luke 11:42. Ruta graveolens; a shrub two feet high, used as a condiment and as a medicine. Dioscorides (iii. 45) describes two kinds, the rue of the mountains and the strong smelling or garden rue. The garden plant was titheable. The Turks keep pots of rue in their drawing rooms for the odor. In the middle ages the priests used bunches of rue wherewith to sprinkle holy water, from whence Shakespeare uses the term "herb of grace" (Rich. II, 3:4).