3 
VERBENA AMCENA. 
(pleasing vervain.) 
class. order. 
DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPERMIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
VERBENACEvE. 
Generic Character. — Vide vol. i. p. 173. 
Specific Character. — Plant perennial, herbaceous. Steins partially recumbent, inclining to a quad- 
rangular form, covered with whitish stiff hairs. Leaves stipulate, pinnatifid ; lobes oblong, acute, 
clothed with a closely-pressed pubescence ; stipules much more hairy than the blade. Bracts 
numerous, awl-shaped, hairy. Calyx — segments similar in form and surface to the bracts. Flowers 
arranged in a long, dense, erect spike. Corolla salver-shaped ; limb composed of five pretty equal, 
oblong lobes, which are slightly enlarged towards the ends, bifid, and of a pinkish-purple colour. 
Beautiful as are many of the innumerable hybrid Verbenas now in the 
market, they are by no means comparable in value to species that are new and of 
a decidedly distinct character. Our nomenclature is now positively cumbered 
with names, commemorative only of the individuals who raised them, while the 
plants, in not a few instances, can scarcely be distinguished. 
We venture these remarks, not because we are averse to the practice of 
hybridization, for we greatly desire its more general adoption ; but solely to 
deprecate the bestowal of a name and a position in the commercial world, on those 
varieties which have not some strikingly different features from any others, to 
recommend them to the public. All others we would wish to see cultivated, but 
confined to a limited circle, and regarded as very trifling variations, not worthy of 
any distinctive appellation. We know several places in which this plan is 
judiciously followed, and trust, for the prevention of further confusion, it will be 
still more regarded in future. 
Of the very pretty species herewith published, its appearance is so far removed 
from that of all others yet introduced, that it is unnecessary to point out its 
distinguishing traits. The elegantly pinnatifid nature of its foliage is, we believe, 
quite novel in so large a species, while its long, bold, dense spikes of light purple 
