560 VERBENACE^ verbena 



Order lxxii VERBENACE^E J. St. Hil. Expos. Fam. i, 445. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees with opposite or verticillate, rarely 

 alternate, leaves and perfect more or less irregular, or some- 

 times regular, flowers in terminal or axillary spikes, racemes, 

 cymes or panicles. Calyx inferior, mostly persistent, usually 

 4-5-lobed or 4-5-cleft. Corolla gamopetalous, regular or bi- 

 labiate, the tube usually cylindrical and the limb 4- 5-cleft. 

 Stamens 4, didynamous, rarely only 2 or as many as lobes of 

 the corolla, inserted on the corolla and alternate with its lobes. 

 Anthers 2- celled, the cells dehiscent longitudinally. Ovary 

 2-10-celled, composed of 2 carpels, each with 2 anatropous or 

 amphritropous ovules, thus in 4-celled ovaries 1 ovule in each 

 cell. Style terminal: stigmas 1 or 2. Fruit dry, separating at 

 maturity into 2-4 nutlets or a 2-4-seeded drupe. Embryo 

 straight, in little or no albumen. 



1 VERBENA Tourn, L. Kp. 18. 



Herbs or shrubs mostly with opposite leaves and variously 

 colored flowers in terminal solitary, corymbed or panicled spikes. 

 Calyx 5-angled, more or less unequally 5-toothed. Corolla sal- 

 verform or funnelform, the tube straight or somewhat curved, the 

 limb spreading, 5-lobed, slightly bilabial e or regular. Stamens 

 4, or very rarely only 2, included : connective of the anther un- 

 appendaged, or sometimes provided with a gland. Ovary 4-celled. 

 Style usually short, 2-lobed, one of the lobes stigmatic. Fruit 

 dry, mostly enclosed by the calyx, at length separating into 4 

 1-seeded linear-oblong crustaceous nutlets. 



V. hastata L. Sp. 20. Roughish-pubescent perennial: stems erect' 

 strict, 3-7 feet high, usually branched above: leaves oblong-lanceolate to 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate, narrowed at base, serrate or incised-dentate 

 with acute teeth, 3-6 inches long, the lower sometimes bastately 3-lobed 

 at base, all petioled: spikes numerous, panicled, slender, 2-6 inches long: 

 bracts ovate, acuminate, shorter than the calyx : corolla blue, its limb 

 about 1% lines broad : fruit densely imbricated on the spikes, \-l% lines 

 high. In moist meadows, Oregon to Brit. Columbia and the Atlantic St's. 



V. prostrata R. Br. Ait. Kew. ed 2. iv, 41. Soft-villous to hirsute 

 perennial : stems ascending or spreading, at length much branched from 

 the base, 1-3 feet high : leaves obovate or oblong in outline, coarsely toothed 

 or incised, often 3-5-cieft or lobe^, 1-2 inches long tapering at base into a 

 margined petiole : spikes solitary or somewhat clustered, elongated, hirsute 

 or villous : bracts subulate, shorfer than the calyx : corolla violet or blue, 

 2 lines long. On plains and open places, southern Oregon to California. 



V. bracteosa Michx. Fl. ii, 13. Hirsute-pubescent perennial: stems 

 much branched from the base, the branches decumbent or ascending, 

 slender, 6-18 inches long: leaves ovate, oval or obovate in outline, pin- 

 nately incised or pinnatifid, 1-3 inches long, more or less cuneate at base 

 and narrowed into short petioles, the lobes mostly dentate: spikes sessile, 

 stout, dense, becoming 4-6 inches long in fruit: bracts conspicuous, linear- 

 lanceolate, rather rigid, longer than the flowers and fruits the lower ones 

 often incised: corolla purplish-blue, about 2 lines long. On sandy plains 

 and waste places, Brit. Columbia to California and Illinois. 



