A large family, widely distributed; herbs and shrubs; leaves opposite,
or in whorls; flowers perfect, in clusters; calyx with four or five
lobes or teeth; corolla with four or five united lobes, almost regular
or two-lipped; stamens on the corolla, usually four, in two sets; ovary
superior, with one style and one or two stigmas, when ripe separating
into from two to four, one-seeded nutlets.
There are many kinds of Verbena, chiefly American; perennials; calyx
tubular, with five teeth; corolla usually salver-form, with five lobes,
usually slightly two-lipped; stigmas with two lobes, only the larger
lobe fertile; fruit four nutlets. This is the Latin name of some sacred
plant.
[Sidenote: =Wild Verbena=
_Verbèna Arizònica_
=Lilac
Spring
Arizona=]
This is very much like a garden Verbena, an attractive little plant,
from four to six inches tall, with hairy stems and prettily shaped
leaves, dull green, soft and hairy. The gay little flowers are about
half an inch across, with a bright pinkish-lilac corolla, with a white
or yellowish "eye," and a sticky-hairy calyx, and form a charming
flat-topped cluster. This grows among the rocks, above the Desert
Laboratory at Tucson and in similar places.
[Sidenote: =Common Vervain=
_Verbèna prostràta_
=Lilac
Spring, summer, autumn
California=]
A loosely-branching plant, from one to two feet tall, with dull green,
hairy stems, dull green, soft, hairy leaves, and very small flowers in
a long spike, too few open at one time to be effective. The corolla
is lilac or bluish, often with a magenta tube and magenta "eye." This
grows in dry open hill country.