VERBENACEAE. 



313 



1. Priva lappulacea (L.) Pers. Bur- 

 vervain. (Fig. 333.) More or less pubes- 

 cent. Steins 8'-2° tall, branching; leaves 

 ovate, i'-4' long, acute or acuminate, ser- 

 rate, truncate or cordate at the base, the 

 petioles much shorter than the blades; 

 racemes loosely flowered, 2'-6' long; ped- 

 icels i"-l" long; calyx cylindric-prismatic, 

 about li" long, accrescent, pubescent; 

 corolla slightly surpassing the calyx, salver- 

 form, with short rounded lobes ; fruit 

 ovoid-pyramidal, 2|"-3^" long; nutlets in- 

 cluded in the calyx, spiny-tuberculate on 

 the back, l^"-2" long. [Verbena lappu- 

 lacea Li.', Priva echinata Juss.] 



Collected in Bermuda by Munro, according 

 to Hemsley, but no specimen is preserved at 

 Kew or at the British Museum ; as it is a com- 

 mon weed of warm and tropical regions it 

 may very likely have been foimd in Bermuda, 

 perhaps only as a waif. We have failed to 

 find it. 



4. VALERIANODES [Boerh.] Medic. 

 Annual or perennial herbs, or shrubs, 

 the leaves opposite or alternate, toothed. 



Flowers spicate, solitary and sessile in the axils of bracts, or imbedded in 

 excavations of the thick rachis. Calyx membranous or herbaceous, its lobes 5, 

 usually unchanged at maturity. Corolla-tube sometimes slightly dilated 

 above, the limb spreading; lobes 5. Stamens 2, included; anthers with unap- 

 pendaged connectives; staminodia 2, small. Ovary 2-celled. Ovules solitary 

 in each cavity. Fruit included in the calyx, separating into 2 nutlets. [Sig- 

 nifies similarity to A^alerian, but this is 

 obscure.] More than 40 species, of tropical 

 and subtropical America, the following 

 typical. 



1.. Valerianodes jamaicensis (L.) 

 Kuntze. Jamaica Vervain. (Fig. 334.) 

 An annual shrubby plant, 1°-3A° high, often 

 purplish, with sparingly pubescent or gla- 

 brate foliage. Leaves alternate or opposite, 

 oblong, ovate or oval, 1-3^' long, coarsely 

 serrate, narrowed at the base, the petioles 

 margined, as long as the blades or shorter; 

 spikes 6'-2° long, quill-like; bracts imbri- 

 cated, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, serrulate, 3"-4" long; flowers borne in 

 depressions of rachis ; calyx-lobes triangular 

 or triangular-ovate ; corolla blue, somewhat 

 irregular, 4"-6" long, its tube slightly 

 curved, the limb 3"-4" broad; nutlets IV' 

 long, buried in the rachis. [Verbena jamai- 

 censis L. ; Stachytarpheta jamaicensis Vahl.] 



Common in fields and in waste places. 

 Native. Florida, the West Indies and tropical 

 continental America. Flowers from spring to 

 autumn. Its seeds were probably transported 

 to Bermuda by a bird, or on the wind. 



