736 



VER 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



VER 



16. Verbena Forskalaei ; Arabian Vervain. Four-stamined : 

 fruiting-calices roundish, beaked, reflexed ; seeds roundish, 

 wrinkled; leaves ovate-oblong, acute, bluntly serrated; stem 

 herbaceous, erect, four-cornered, smooth. It is very nearly 

 allied to the preceding species, but has a stiffer stem; the 

 leaves more rugged above, with the serratures deeper. 

 Native of Arabia Felix. 



17. Verbena Caroliniana; Carolina Vervain. Four-atamin- 

 ed: spikes filiform; leaves undivided, lanceolate, serrate, blunt- 

 ish, subsessile; root perennial. The stalks rise six feet high, 

 are four-cornered, branch towards the top, and are termi- 

 nated by sleuder spikes of white flowers, formed into pani- 

 cles. Native of Carolina. See the thirteenth species. 



18. Verbena Urticifolia; Nettle-leaved Vervain. Four- 

 stamined : spikes filiform, panicled ; leaves undivided, ovate, 

 serrate, acute, petioled. Stems four-cornered, about three 

 feet high; panicles terminating, long, and slender, composed 

 of small white flowers ranged loosely, appearing in July, and 

 succeeded by seeds, which ripen in autumn. Native of most 

 parts of North America. This, and the twenty-first and 

 twenty-third species, may be propagated by sowing the seeds 

 in autumn : thin and weed them. If the seeds be permitted 

 to scatter, the plants will come up in the following spring. 



19. Verbena Scabra; Rugged-leaved Vervain. Four- 

 stamined : spikes filiform; fruiting calices patulous, ovate ; 

 leaves ovate, very rugged, serrate ; uppermost alternate. 

 Stem herbaceous, erect, four-cornered, villose; flowers alter- 

 nate or opposite, copious, small, approximating. Native of 

 South America. 



20. Verbena Aubletia; Cut-leaved Rose Vervain. Four- 

 stamined: spikes loose, solitary; leaves trifid, gashed. Stem 

 a foot high, sometimes rising to two feet high in gardens; 

 branches from each axil. The extreme brilliancy of its colour 

 renders it a very ornamental green-house plant. Native of 

 America. In favourable seasons it ripens its seeds readily, 

 and, being biennial, is usually increased by them. 



21. Verbena Spuria; Canadian Vervain. Four-stamined: 

 spikes filiform ; leaves multifid-laciniate; stems numerous ; 

 root biennial. The upper part of the stalk branches out 

 into numerous footstalks, forming panicles of blue flowers, 

 appearing in July and August. Native of North America. 

 See the eighteenth species. 



22. Verbena Officinalis ; Common Vervain. Four-stamined: 

 spikes filiform, panicled ; leaves multifid-laciniate ; stem 

 subsolitary. Root perennial, branching, woody, sending up, 

 from each of its summits, a solitary stem, about a foot high, 

 curved at the base, acutely quadrangular, smooth, with the 

 exception of some minute hooked prickles; flowers many, 

 small, sessile, each accompanied by a little bracte ; corolla 

 of a very pale lilac ; seed when young enfolded in one com- 

 mon skin, or tunic, which is almost obliterated as they ripen, 

 and then each appears marked with excavated dots at its 

 upper part. Though this plant is destitute of odour, and 

 manifests to the taste but a slight degree of bitterness and 

 astringency, yet even in modern times it has been accounted 

 a sovereign remedy in a multitude of disorders. Schroder 

 recommends it in upwards of thirty complaints. Bruised, 

 and hung round the neck, it was worn as a charm against 

 inveterate headaches ; and in still later times, we are told that 

 the most severe and obstinate headaches have been .cured by 

 applying it as a cataplasm. Dr. Home advises a decoction of it 

 made in the proportion of two ounces to a quart, and the same 

 taken in the space of a day, as a good medicine in purgings. 

 It eases pain in the bowels ; and is given in clysters with 

 advantage, where there is a desire of going to stool without 

 being able ; and is often applied externally to the piles. 



Among the ancients, it was held sacred, and was employed 

 in making leagues by ambassadors, in sacrificial rites, and 

 in incantations : hence it was suspended about the neck as 

 an amulet, and was thought to be good against serpents and 

 venomous bites, and was reckoned a specific for a variety of 

 diseases. Native of Europe, Barbary, China, Cochin-china, 

 Japan, and New Holland. In England it occurs by road- 

 sides, in dry sunny pastures, and waste places about villages. 

 It begins to flower in July, and continues through the autumn. 



23. Verbena Supina ; Trailing Vervain. Four-stamined : 

 spikes filiform, solitary : leaves bipinnatifid. Root annual ; 

 stems a foot long, roundish, compressed a little, and some- 

 what pubescent; flowers bluish. Native of Spain, Portugal, 

 and Algiers. 



Verbesina; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Poly- 

 gamia Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : com- 

 mon concave : leaflets oblong, channelled, concave, erect, 

 commonly equal, in a double row. Corolla: compound 

 radiate; corollets hermaphrodite many in the disk ; females 

 about five in the ray ; proper of the hermaphrodite funnel- 

 form, five-toothed, erect ; female florets ligulate, trifid, and 

 wide or simple, and very narrow. Stamina : in the her- 

 maphrodites, filamenta five, capillary, very short; anther* 

 cylindrical, tubular. Pistil: of the hermaphrodite, germen 

 somewhat oblong; style filiform, length of the stamina; stig- 

 mas two, reflexed : in the females, the same. Pericarp : 

 none, the calix unchanged. Seeds: in the hermaphrodite 

 solitary, thickishly angular ; pappus of two awl-shaped un- 

 equal awns. In the females very like the others. Receptacle : 

 chaffy. ESSENTIAL CIIAUACTEH. Calix: in a double row. 

 Florets* of the ray: about five. Pappus: awned. Receptacle 

 chaffy. The species are, 



1. Verbesina Alata; Wing-stallted Verbesina. Leaves alter- 

 nate, decurrent, waved, obtuse. This is an herbaceous 

 plant, with an upright stem about two feet high, subdivided, 

 round, winged, rough-haired ; branches alternate, erect, 

 axillary ; peduncles elongated, terminating, pubescent, with 

 flowers in single heads, of a deep orange colour. Perennial. 

 It flowers most part of the summer. Native of South Ame- 

 rica, and Jamaica, Cura9ao, &c. Sow the seeds upon a 

 moderate hot-bed in the spring, and when the plants are fit 

 to remove, transplant them to a fresh hot-bed to bring them 

 forward. Shade them till they have taken new root, and 

 then treat them in the same way as other tender annual 

 plants, taking care not to draw them up too weak. In June 

 take them up with balls of earth, and plant them in a warm 

 border, where they may be shaded and watered till they 

 have again took root, after which they will require little care. 

 They will produce good seeds in autumn ; but in a stove 

 they may be preserved frequently through the winter. 



2. Verbesina Chinensis; Chinese Verbesina. Leaves alter- 

 nate, petioled, ovate-lanceolate, serrate. This is a shrub, 

 with a single round subtomentose stem, and undivided 

 branches from the upper axils of the leaves ; flowers termi- 

 nating, solitary, peduncled; cojolla yellow ; seeds crowned 

 with a rim and four smooth bristles. Found in China. 

 Cultivated like the first species. 



3. Verbesina Virginica; Virginian Verbesina. Leaves 

 alternate, lanceolate, petioled ; stem slightly winged ; flowers 

 coryrnbe.d. Native of Virginia. 



4. Verbesina Pinnatifida; Pinnatifid-leaved Verbesina. 

 Leaves alternate, pinnatifid. Native of Jamaica. 



5. Verbesina Dichotoma ; Forked Verbesina. Leave* 

 opposite, ovate, tomentose, petioled ; stem dichotomous at 

 top, the outmost internode compressed ; flowers solitary, or 

 very rarely two, springing from the divarications of the 



