Hoary Vervain

(Verbena stricta)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: NRCS Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta Vent.)

Identification: Flowers purple, small, with a fused corolla and 5 free petal lobes. Flowers arranged in a series of elongate, including a large, apical spike and a few lateral branches arising from the leaf axils.. Only a few flowers open at any one time. Stem and leaves hairy. Leaves in opposite pairs, ovate, with a coarsely toothed outer margin. Leaf surface covered with whitish hairs. Plant 1 to 4 feet in height.

Distribution: Montana in the west to Ontario in the east, southward to Tennessee in the east, and New Mexico in the west.

Habitat: Hoary Vervain is found in prairies and along roadsides.

Flowering period: June to September.

Similar Species: The purple flowers in combination with the ovate leaves covered with fine, white hairs should identify this species.

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