Vervain Family 337 



at Length separating into 4 1-seeded, linear or linear- 

 oblong, smooth or rough nutlets. 



* Bracts shorter than the flowers. 



•*- Flowers, or at least the fruit, scattered. 



1. V. urticifolia L. Steins minutely hirsute-pubescent to 

 almost glabrous, erect, 10-1H dm. high; leaves thin, petioled, 

 ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or acute, evenly or doubly 

 serrate; spikes slender-filiform, panicled; bracts ovate, acumi- 

 nate, shorter than the calyx; corolla 2-4 mm. long, white or 

 purplish. 



Occasional in marshes. 



2. V. polystachya H. B. K. Scarcely as tall as the last, 

 scabrous, sometimes hirsute or hispid, paniculately branched ; 

 leaves oblong to broadly lanceolate, 2.5-5 cm. long, sessile by a 

 narrowed base or short-petioled, obtuse or acute, incisely serrate, 

 occasionally somewhat lobed ; spikes thicker and denser than in 

 the last. 



Occasional in marshes, less common than the last. 



+- +■ Fruit mostly crowded. 



3. V. prostrata R. Br. Soft-villous to hirsute, diffusely 

 spreading, at length much branched, 5-9 dm. long; leaves obo- 

 vate or oblong, with cuneate base tapering into a margined petiole, 

 veiny, acutely incised and serrate, often 3-5-cleft; spikes solitary 

 or somewhat clustered, elongated, hirsute or villous; bracts sub- 

 ulate, shorter than the calyx ; corolla violet or blue, 4 mm. long; 

 nutlets oblong. 



Common on the plains and in the foothills throughout our range. 



** Bracts exceeding the flowers. 



4. V. bracteosa Michx. Hirsute, much branched from the 

 base, the branches diffuse or decumbent, 2—4 dm. long; leaves 

 cuneate-obovate, narrowed into a short-winged petiole, pinnately 

 incised or 3-cleft and coarsely dentate; spikes thick, terminating 

 the branches ; lowest bracts often pinnatifid or incised, the others 

 lanceolate, acuminate, entire, rigid, all exceeding the flowers ; 

 corolla purplish or blue. 



Occasional in low ground, especially in the bottoms of dried up ponds. 

 June-September. 



