340 VfiRBENACE^. (VERVAIN FAMILY.) 



Stamens included ; the upper pair occasionally without anthers. Style slender : 

 stigma capitate. Fruit splitting into 4 seed-like nutlets. — Flowers sessile, in 

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

 name for any sacred herb : derivation obscure.) — The species present numerous 

 spontaneous hybrids. 



§ 1. Anthers not appendaged : erect herbs, with slender spikes. 

 * Leaves undivided: root perennial. 



1. V. angUStifolia, Michx. Low (6' -18' high), often simple; leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate, tapering to the base, sessile, roughish, slightly toothed ; 

 spikes few or single ; the purple flowers crowded, larger than in the next. — Dry 

 soil, Amherst, Mass., to Wisconsin and southward : rare northward. 



2. V. hastata, L. (Blue Vervain.) Tall (4° -6° high); leaves lance- 

 olate or oblong-lanceolate, taper-pointed, cut-serrate, petiofed, the lower often lobed and 

 sometimes halberd-shaped at the base ; spikes linear, erect, density flowered, corymbed 

 or panicled. (V. paniculata, Lam., when the leaves are not lobed.) — Low and 

 waste grounds: common. At the north probably immigrant from the south. 



3. V. urtieifolia, L. (Nettle-leaved or White V.) Rather tall; 

 haves oval or oblong-ovate, acute, coarsely serrate, petioled ; spikes very slender, at 

 length much elongated, with the flowers remote, loosely panicled, very small, white. 

 — Old fields and roadsides : apparently immigrant. 



4. V. Striata, Vent. (HOARY V.) Downy with soft whitish hairs; stem 

 nearly simple (1°- 2° high) ; leaves sessile, obovate or oblong, serrate; spikes thick 

 and very densely flowered, somewhat clustered, hairy. — Barrens, Ohio to Wiscon- 

 sin, and southward. — Flowers blue, pretty large. 



* * Leaves cleft or pinnatifid, narrowed at the base : root perennial ? 



5. V. officinalis, L. (European V.) Erect, loosely branched (1° -3° 

 high) ; leaves pinnatifid or 3-cleft, oblong-lanceolate, sessile, smooth above, the lobes 

 cut and toothed ; spikes panicled, very slender ; bracts small, much shorter than 

 the very small purplish flowers. (V. spuria, L.) — Roadsides; chiefly south- 

 ward: scarce. (Nat. from Eu.) 



6. V. hractedsa, Michx. Widely spreading or procumbent, hairy; haves 

 wedge-lanceolate, cut-pinnatifid or 3-cleft, short-petioled ; spikes single, remotely 

 flowered ; bracts large and leafy, the lower pinnatifid, longer than the small pur- 

 ple flowers. — Waste places, Wisconsin to Kentuckj^ and southward. 



§ 2. Anthers of the longer stamens tipped with a glandular appendage. 



7. V. Aubl6tia, L. Annual, rather hairy, spreading or ascending ; leaves 

 obovate-oblong with a wedge-shaped base, 3-cleft and cut or pinnatifid ; spikes 

 pedancled, flat-topped in flower; bracts shorter than the calyx; flowers showy, 

 light purple. — Prairies and rocks, from Illinois southward. Also cultivated. 



2. LIPPIA, L. (ZapAnia, Juss.) 



Calyx short, often flattened, 2-4-toothed, or 2-lipped. Corolla 2-lipped: up- 

 per lip notched ; the lower much larger, 3-lobed. Stamens included. Style 

 slender: stigma obliquely capitate. Fruit 2-celled, 2-seeded. (Dedicated to 

 Augustus Lippi, an Italian naturalist and traveller.) 



