VERBENA FAMILY 207 



the lower ones narrowed at the base. Corolla narrow, its lobes lance- 

 awl-shaped, slightly bearded outside with long- bristles. In dry 

 thickets or on hillsides. 



2. 0. hispidissimum Mackenzie. Stem stout, upright, 1-4 ft. high, 

 shaggy with long bristly hairs. Leaves from lanceolate to oblong, 

 acute, 2-4 * in. long. Corolla rather broad, its lobes ovate-triangular 

 or triangular-lanceolate, thickly hairy outside. Nutlets with a very 

 short neck at the base. Rich soil along river banks and bottom lands. 



VHI. ECHIUM L. 



Herbs or sometimes shrubs, usually stout, coarse, and hairy. 

 Leaves entire. Flowers white, reddish-purple or blue, in spiked 

 or panicled racemes. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla tube cylindrical 

 or funnel-shaped ; the throat dilated ; the limb with 5 unequal 

 lobes. Filaments unequal, attached to the corolla below, pro- 

 jecting from the corolla. Style thread-like ; stigma 2-lobed. 

 Nutlets 4, ovoid or top-shaped, wrinkled. 



1. E. vulgare L. BLUE THISTLE, BLUE WEED, BLUE DEVILS. 



Stems 1-3 ft. high, more or less erect, leafy, covered with stinging 

 hairs. Root leaves lanceolate or oblong, petioled, 4-8 in. long ; 

 stem leaves sessile, acute, rounded at the base. Flowers showy, 

 reddish-purple in the bud, changing to bright blue. A very trouble- 

 some weed, especially in fallow fields. Naturalized from Europe. 



87. VERBENACE^E. VERBENA FAMILY 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees. Leaves opposite or whorled, with- 

 out stipules. Flowers zygomorphic, in bracted cymes. Calyx 

 hypogynous, cleft or toothed. Corolla hypogynous, tubular, 

 usually more or less 2-lipped. Stamens usually 4 (2 long and 

 2 short), inserted on the corolla tube. Ovary usually 2-4-celled 

 (in Phryma 1-celled), with the style springing from its summit. 



I. VERBENA L. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves simple,, opposite, ser- 

 rate or pinnately lobed. Flowers in terminal spikes which 

 become much elongated in fruit. Calyx tubular, 5-ribbed, 5- 

 toothed. Corolla salverform or funnelform, the tube often 

 curved, bearded in the throat, limb spreading, 5-lobed, often 



