VERBENACEAE 
BLUE VERVAIN 
Verbena hastata L. 
VERVAIN FAMILY 
This is the largest and commonest Vervain in Illinois. It is 
abundant in low open moist places throughout, and beyond our 
state stretches from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south to 
Florida and Arizona. 
The 4-sided stem grows 
3-7 feet high and is slightly 
roughened by occasional 
very short hairs. The ser- 
rate leaves are lanceolate, 
petioled, taper pointed and 
3-6 inches long. They are 
the source of Vervain tea, 
a familiar spring tonic, es- 
pecially in rural districts. 
Numerous spikes in a 
panicle bear the flowers, 
blooming from June to 
September. The flowers, 
crowded in the spike, are 
blue, white or pink, and 
about one-eighth inch broad. 
The Hoary Vervain, Ver- 
bena stricta Vent., is perhaps 
the most showy of all Ver- 
vains that adorn prairies, 
fields and other open places 
in summer. It is native only 
in the central part of the 
continent, occurring only in 
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dry sandy soil from Ohio and Ontario to Minnesota, South Dakota 
and Wyoming, south to Tennessee, Texas and New Mexico, frequent- 
ly in colonies of considerable size. The stem grows 1-3 feet high and 
is densely covered with soft whitish hairs. The large purplish flowers 
bloom from May to September in thick hairy spikes. The fruits are 
a little more than one-eighth inch long, crowded and overlapping on 
the spikes. The bracts are lanceolate-awl shaped and nearly as long 
as the calyx. 
