RUTA, in botany, a genus of the decandria monogynia class. The calix has five segments; the petals are concave; the germ is surrounded by ten melliferous pores; and the capsule is lobbed. There are three species, none of them natives of Britain.
The dried herb is much used in medicine, by way of infusion; being esteemed an excellent alexipharmic and cephalic, and accordingly prescribed in the small-pox, measles, and hysterical and nervous cases; as also in peripneumonies and pleurises, to strengthen the stomach, and to prevent the return of habitual colics.