VERBENACEAE (VERVAIN FAMILY) 343 
Means of control 
In meadows and pastures, spudding or hoe-cutting first-year 
leaf tufts from their roots in autumn or early spring. Overlooked 
plants that produce flowering stalks the next season should be cut 
close to the ground before any seed matures. Cultivation of the 
ground destroys the weed if no seeds are in the soil. 
EUROPEAN VERVAIN 
Verbéna officinalis, L. 
Other English names: Holy herb, Herb-of-the-Cross, Simpler’s Joy, 
Enchanter’s Plant. 
Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to September. 
Seed-time: July to November. 
Range: New England and Middle Atlantic States, southward to 
Florida and Texas. Also on the Pacific Coast. 
Habitat: Fields, roadsides, and waste places. 
An escape from gardens that has become a troublesome weed 
in many places. Stem one to three feet tall, smooth, four-sided, 
slender, branched and spreading. Leaves opposite, oblong lance- 
shaped in outline but pinnatifid, the lower ones tapering to mar- 
gined petioles; upper ones becoming nearly or quite entire and 
sessile. Flowers purple, very small, on slender, bracted, thread- 
like spikes often four or five inches long; corollas tubular, the five 
lobes spreading salver-form ; stamens four, in two pairs of unequal 
length, included ; calyx five-toothed, enclosing the fruit, which, as 
in all the Vervains, splits into four very small, hard nutlets. 
Means of control 
Prevent seed production by close cutting or pulling while the 
plant is in early bloom. 
WHITE VERVAIN 
Verbéna urticefolia, L. 
Other English name: Nettle-leaved Vervain. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to September. 
