1172 
XCV. VERBENACEE. 
[Lippi a. 
The species is very common is waste lands on banks and in sandy places, Ac., all over the 
warmer parts of the world. It is very variable in the breadth of the leaves, the size of the 
spikes and flowers, the points and teeth of the bracts, etc. — Benth. 
2. 1, geminata (flower-heads in pairs), Kuntli ; Schau. in DC. Prod. xi. 
582 ; Benth. FI. Austr. v. 35. A strongly scented shrub, with long straggling 
branches, more or less hirsute, the young shoots often hoary. Leaves opposite 
or rarely in whorls of three, from broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse, crenate, 
very rugose, f to 1+in. long when broad, longer when narrow. Peduncles much 
shorter than the leaves, and mostly in both axils, each one bearing a small head 
of pink flowers becoming ovoid as the flowering advances. Bracts very broad, 
herbaceous, hispid, 1 to 1| line long. Calyx shorter than the bract, membranous, 
nearly globular, neither flattened not ribbed, 2-lobed, the lobes broad and 
obscurely 2-toothed. Corolla-tube 1J line long, dilated upwards, the lobes short 
broad and nearly equal. Fruit separating into nuts. 
Hab: About Eockbampton, Dallacliy and others. Probably introduced from South America, 
where it is often common, ranging from Buenos Ayres to Mexico. — Benth. 
9. *STACHYTARPHETA, Vahl. 
(From stachys, a spike, and tarphys, thick, the inflorescence.) 
Calyx tubular, persistent, compressed, oblique at the apex and minutely 
4-toothed. Corolla with a long straight or curved cylindrical tube and 5 rounded 
spreading subequal divisions. Stamens 4, didynamous, included, the upper two 
■without anthers. Ovary 2-celled ; cells 1 -ovulate; stigma capitate. Fruit 
included in the persistent calyx-tube, splitting up into 2 pyrenes. — Herbs, with 
simple opposite leaves, the flowers in very long spikes inserted in the hollow of a 
thickened cylindrical rhachis. 
Nearly all the species belong to tropical America. 
Plant about 2ft. high, leaves dark-green. Flowers deep-blue 1 . S.dichotoma. 
Plant 4 to 5ft. high, leaves pilose. Flowers rosy-red 2. S.mutabilis. 
1. S. dichotoma (branches forked), Vahl., Eniun. i. 207. A dichotomously- 
branched soft-wooded small shrub about 2ft. high ; branches 4-angular. Leaves 
2 to 4in. long, ovate to ovate-oblong, base cuneate decurr.ent, apex acute, 
margins deeply erenate-serrate. Spikes slender, 6 to 18in. long ; bracts narrow. 
Flowers deep blue. — 5. urticifolia, Sims. Bot. Mag. 1848. 
Hab.: Tropical America, now naturalized near townships. 
2. S. mutabilis (flowers changing colours), 1 'ahl. Schauer in DC. Prod. xi. 
5G5. A strong robust plant often 4 to 5ft. high. Leaves large ovate-cordate 
pilose, margins crenate. Spikes very long and stout ; bracts lanceolate, spread- 
ing, with a long awn. Flowers large rosy-red. 
Hab.: Tropical America. Naturalized about Cooktown. 
10. VERBENA. Linn. 
(The old latin name used by Virgil and Pliny.) 
Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla with a distinct tube, the limb spreading, rather 
unequally 5-lobed. Stamens 4 or rarely 2, included in the tube. Ovary 4-eelled 
with one ovule in each cell erect from the base. Fruit not succulent, enclosed 
in the calyx, separating more or less readily into 4 1-seeded nuts.— Herbs or 
rarely shrubs. Leaves opposite, entire or divided. Flowers small, alternate, in 
simple or branched spikes, each one in the axil of a small bract without bracteoles. 
The genus comprises a large number of American species, with only two natives of the 
warmer regions of the Old World, including the Australian one ; the other species here 
enumerated have been introduced from America, 
