Verbena officinalis L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Verbenaceae

• Scientific Name

  Verbena officinalis L.

• Description

  Species Description - Slender annual 2–6 dm, ascending or erect, the stem glabrous or nearly so; lvs 2–7 cm, strigillose, the lower ones ± ovate, narrowed to a petiole, 1–2-pinnatifid or 3–5-cleft with the parts again incised, the upper ones smaller and less dissected; spikes elongate, very slender, paniculately disposed or in 3’s or even solitary; bracts usually half as long as the cal; cal 2–2.5 mm, glandular-hairy, subtruncate, its teeth minute; cor blue, purple, or lilac, the tube to 3 mm, the limb 4 mm wide, with ± rounded lobes; nutlets 2 mm; 2n=14, 28. Native of Europe, naturalized along roadsides and in fields and waste places in se. U.S., n. to Mass. and possibly Me. June–Sept.

• Common Names

  European vervain