372 THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



XXXIV. YERBENACE/E. Vervain Family. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees: leaves opposite or whorled (in our spe- 

 cies), exstipulate: flowers monopetalous, often irregular, in bracted 

 cymes or panicles: calyx free from the ovary, 4-5- cleft: corolla some- 

 times regular, but often more or less tvvo-llpped: stamens 4 (rarely 

 2), in unequal pairs, inserted on corolla, alternate with lobes: style 

 1: ovary mostly 2- to 4-celled (not lobed\ with style from summit: 

 fruit dry or drupe-like. About 1,200 species, mostly tropical. 

 VERBENA. Vervain. 



Herbs with simple, opposite, serrate or pinnately-Iobed leaves: flowers 

 usually sessile, bracted, in terminal spikes: corolla salver- or funnel-form, 

 with border somewhat unevenly 5-cleft. 



V. urtlcaBfolia, Linn. Perennial, common coarse weed in waste ground: 

 4-6 ft. tall: leaves oval, coarsely serrate, stalked: flowers minute, white, in 

 slender spikes. 



V. angustifdlia, Michx. A perennial, roughish weed, with stems 6 in. 

 to 2 ft., mostly simple, leafy: leaves sessile, narrow-lanceolate, tapering to 

 sessile base: flowers small, in spikes: corolla purple: fruits overlapping on 

 spike. Dry fields. 



V. stricta. Vent. Perennial, hoary-hairy: stem 1-3 ft., very leafy: 

 leaves obovate or oblong, serrate and nearly sessile: spikes thick and 

 densely flowered; flowers blue-purple, rather larger than in other common 

 Vervains, %-'m. across, but few open at one time. Westward. 



V. hastata, Linn. A common, rather pubescent weed of the waysides: 

 stem 2-6 ft. tall, branching with many slender spikes of the small, bracted, 

 blue-purple flowers, few flowers in bloom at one time: leaves lanceolate, 

 acuminate, petioled. 



V. Aubl6tia, Linn. One of the species from which the garden Verbenas 

 have come: stems rather prostrate and creeping: flowers in a corymb or 

 pedancled spike and showy, of various colors and considerable size: leaves 

 on petioles, ovate in outline, but pinnately cut or 3-parted. Wild from 

 Indiana west. 



XXXV. SCROPHULARIACE^. Figwort Family. 



Herbs (trees in warm countries), of various habit: flowers perfect, 

 irregular, usually imperfectly 5-merous: corolla usually 2-lipped and 

 personate: stamens 4 in 2 pairs, inserted on the corolla, with some- 

 times a rudiment of a fifth: ovary single, 2-loculed, ripening into a 

 several- or many-seeded capsule. About 160 genera and 2,000 species. 

 Representative plants are figwort, snapdragon, toad-flax, foxglove, 

 mullein, pentstemon, monkey-flower or musk-plant. 



