General: Annual or more often perennial herb from a taproot; stems prostrate or decumbent, few to numerous, simple, spreading-hairy, 10-60 cm long.
Leaves: Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves opposite, oblanceolate, 2-5 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, coarsely bristly, wing-stalked, irregularly toothed and cleft with pinnate segments, the terminal segments larger.
Flowers: Inflorescence of terminal racemes up to 15 cm long with lance-linear bracts and inconspicuous flowers; corollas bluish or pinkish, sometimes white, 4-5 mm long, almost hidden by prominent bracts exceeding the calyces, lobed, the lobes about 1/4 the length of the tubes; calyces cylindric, 2.5-4 mm long, bristly-hairy.
Fruits: Nutlets, 1-2 mm long, with prominent ribs, cross-corrugated above.
1. Plants usually prostrate or decumbent; leaves, or at least many of them, deeply cleft; bracts of the inflorescences conspicuous, exceeding the calyces.....................Verbena bracteata
1. Plants erect; leaves merely toothed or shallowly lobed; bracts of the inflorescences inconspicuous, slightly surpassed by the calyces.........................Verbena hastata
Habitat / Range
Mesic to dry sandy sites, roadsides and disturbed areas in the steppe and montane zones; rare in SW BC, locally frequent in SC BC; E to ON and S to ME, NH, NY, PA, NC, FL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, CA, and MX
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
