298 VERBENACEJE. (VERVAIN FAMILY.) 



Order 76. VERBENACEJ:. (Vervain Family.) 



Herbs or shrubs, tvith opposite leaves, more or less 2-lipped or irregular 

 corolla, and didynamous stamens, the 2 - i-celled fruit dry or drupaceous, 

 usually splitting when ripe into as many 1-seeded indehiscent nutlets ; differ- 

 ing from the following order in the ovary not being 4-lobed, the style there- 

 fore terminal, and the plants seldom aromatic or furnishing a volatile oil. — 

 Seeds with little or no albumen ; the radicle of the straight embryo point- 

 ing to the base of the fruit. — Mostly tropical or nearly so ; represented 

 here only by some Vervains, a Lippia, and a Callicarpa ; to which we may 

 still append I'hryma, which has been promoted into an order (of a single 

 species), because its ovary and fruit are 1-celled and 1-seeded, and the 

 radicle points to the apex of the fruit. 



1. VERBENA, L. Vervain. 



Calyx tubular, 5-toothcd, one of the teeth often shorter than the others. Co- 

 rolla tubular, often curved, salver-form ; the border somewhat unequally 5-cleft. 

 Stamens included ; the upper pair occasionally without anthers. Style slender: 

 stigma capitate. Fruit splitting into 4 seed-like nutlets. — Flowers sessile, in 

 single or often panicled spikes, bracted. (The Latin name for any sacred herb : 

 derivation obscure.) — The species present numerous spontaneous hybrids. 



& 1. Anthers^not appendaged : erect herbs, with slender spikes. 

 * Leaves undivided: root perennial* 



1. V. angustifolia, Michx. Low (6' -18' high), often simple; leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate, tapering to the base, sessile, roughish, slightly toothed ; 

 spikes few or single ; the purple flowers crowded, larger than in the next. — Dry 

 soil, Penn. to Wisconsin and southward. July -Sept. 



2. V. liastata, L. (Blue Vervain.) Tall (4°-6°high); leaves lanceo- 

 late or oblong-lanceolate, taper-pointed, cut-serrate, petioled, the lower often lobed and 

 sometimes halberd-shaped at the base ; spikes linear, erect, densely flowered, corymbed 

 or panicled. (V. panicuKita, Lam., when the leaves are not lobed.) — Low and 

 waste grounds, common. July -Sept. 



3. V. Hl'ticit'oiaa, L. (Nettle-leaved or White Vervain.) Eather 

 tall ; leaves oval or oblong-ovate, acute, coarsely serrate, petioled ; spikes veiy slender, at 

 length much elongated, with the flowers remote, loosely panicled, very small, white. 

 — Old fields and road-sides. 



4. V. Stricta, Vent. (Hoary Vervain.) Downy with soft whitish hairs ; 

 stem nearly simple (l°-2° high) ; leaves sessile, obovate or oblong, serrate; spikes 

 thick and very densely flowered, somewhat clustered, hairy. — Barrens, Ohio to 

 Wisconsin, and southward. Aug. — Flowers blue, pretty large. 



#= * Leaves cleft or pinnatifid, narrowed at the base : root perennial? 



5. V. officinalis, L. (Common Vervain.) Erect, loosely branched 

 (l°-3° high) ; leaves pinnatifid or 3-cleft, oblong-lanceolate, sessile, smooth above, 

 ihe lobes cut and toothed ; spikes panicled, very slender ; bracts small, much 



