A very large family, with distinctive characteristics; widely
distributed. Ours are herbs or low shrubs, generally aromatic, with
usually square and hollow stems; leaves opposite, with no stipules;
flowers perfect, irregular, in clusters, usually with bracts; calyx
usually five-toothed, frequently two-lipped; corolla more or less
two-lipped, upper lip usually with two lobes, lower lip with three;
stamens usually four, in pairs, on the corolla-tube, alternate with
its lobes; ovary superior, with four lobes, separating when ripe into
four, small, smooth, one-seeded nutlets, surrounding the base of the
two-lobed style, like the four nutlets of the Borage Family, but the
flowers of the latter are regular. These plants are used medicinally
and include many herbs used for seasoning, such as Sage, Thyme, etc.
[Illustration: Wild Verbena--V. Arizonica.