388 



VERBENACEAIi (VERVAIN FAMILY) 



appressed-pubescent upon both surfaces, 6-8 cm. long, 1-1.5 cm. wide ; nutlet.« 

 brownish-white, not constricted at the ba,se, usnally pitted, 2-3 mm. long. — 

 Rocky hills and barrens of the Ozark region, Mo. and Ark. 



87T. E. vulgare. 



12. ECHIUM [Toum.] L. Viper's Bugloss 



Corolla with a cylindraceous or f uimel-form tube ; lobes 

 rounded, spreading. Stamens mostly exserted, unequal. Style 

 thread-form. Nutlets roughened or wrinkled, fixed by a flat 

 base. (A plant name used by Dioscorides from exts, a viper.) 



1. E. VULGARE L. (Blue-weed, Blue Devil.) Rough 

 bristly biennial ; stem erect, ;^9 dm. high ; stem-leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, sessile ; flowers showy, in short lateral clusters, dis- 

 posed in a long and narrow thyrse or in an open panicle ; buds 

 pink ; corolla brilliant blue (rarely pale or roseate) . — Roadsides 

 and meadows, locally abundant. June-Sept. (Nat. from Eu.) 

 Fig. 877. 



VERBENACEAE (Vervain Family) 



Herbs or shrubs^ xoith opposite leaves^ more or less 2-Upped or irregular 

 corolla^ and didynartious stamens, the 2-4-ceUed fruit dry or drupaceous, usnally 

 splitting when ripe into as many l-seeded indehiscent nutlets; resembling the 

 following family, but the ovary not 4-lobed, the style therefore terminal, and 

 the plants seldom aromatic or furnishing a volatile oil. Seeds with straight 

 embryo and little or no albumen. — A large family in the Tropics, sparingly rep- 

 resented in cool regions. 



1. Verbena. Flowers in spikes or heads. Calyx tubular. Fruit splitting into 4 nutlets. 



2. Lippia. Flowers in spikes or heads. Calyx short, 2-cleft. Fruit splitting into 2 nutlets. 



3. Callicarpa. Flowers in axillary cymes. Calyx short. Fruit beiTy-Uke, with 4 nutlets. 



Corolla 

 5-cleft. 



1. VERBENA [Toum.] I-. Vervain 



Calyx 5-toothed, one of the teeth often shorter than the others, 

 tubular, often curved, salver-form ; the border somewhat unequally 

 Stamens included ; the upper pair occasionally without anthers. 

 Style slender; stigma mostly 2-lobed. — Flowers sessile, in single 

 or often panicled spikes, bracted, produced all summer. (The 

 Latin name for any sacred heib ; derivation obscure.) — The 

 species present numerous spontaneous hybrids. 



§ 1. Anthers not appendaged ; flowers small, in slender spikes. 



* Spikes filiform, ivith flowers or at least fruit scattered, naked, the 

 inconspicuous bracts shorter than the calyx. 



1. V. officixXlis L. (European V.) Annual, glabrous or 

 nearly so, loosely branched, 3-9 dm. high ; leaves pinnatifid or 

 i)-cleft. I >hlong -lanceolate, sessile, smooth above, the lobes cut and 

 toothed; spikes panicled ; Jfoi(7^?'s purplish, very small. — Road- 

 sides, waste places, and old fields, especially from the Middle 

 States westw. and southw. (Nat. from Eu.) Fig. 878. 



2. V. urticaefblia L. (White V.) Perennial, from minutely 

 pubescent to almost glabrous, rather tall (O.o-l.;') m. hich) ; leaves 

 oval or oblong-ovate, acute, coarsely serrate, petioled ; spikes at length much 

 elongated, loosely panicled; flowers very small, white. — Thickets, roadsides, 

 and waste ground. (Trop. Am ) 



Var. riparia (Raf.) Britton. Leaves deejdy cleft or incised ; flowers blue. ~ 

 N. J. to Va. and N. C. 



878. V, offici- 

 nalis X %. 



