VERBENACE^-VERVAIN FAMILY 



VERBENA 



Verbena hybrida. 

 Verbena, ancient Latin name of the European vervain. 



Stems. — Erect or decumbent, variable. 

 Leaves. — Opposite, variable. 



Flowers. — In many colors, borne in corymbose clusters. 

 Calyx. — ^Tubular, five-toothed. 



Corolla. — Salver-shaped; tube straight or incurved, hairy at the 

 throat; border somewhat two-hpped; five-lobed, each lobe notched. 

 Stamens. — Four, in two pairs. 

 Ovary. — Four-celled; fruit four, ribbed nutlets. 



The hybrid Verbenas are a garden race containing the strains of 

 so many primitives that it is impossible to classify them according 

 to their botanical derivation. They are the descendants of four 

 or five Brazilian Verbenas, which have been crossed and hy- 

 bridized to the utter destruction of all specific lines. The dis- 

 tinctions now made are purely horticultural and rest chiefly upon 

 color and habit. 



The growers class their Verbenas as selfs, eyed, and striped, 

 in respect to color; and standard, or dwarf, in respect to 

 habit. 



The primitive forms of Verbena were introduced into England 

 in the middle thirties of the nineteenth century. One seems to 

 have borne scarlet flowers, another rose-purple, another pale- 

 purple, and a fourth white. From the first all were extremely 

 variable, and by 1839 the florists had obtained "several excellent 

 varieties." By 1840 they began to be cultivated in America and 

 for a time were very popular plants. The smile of fickle fortune 



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