Verbena urticifolia - (image 1 of 5)
Taxonomy
Family: Verbenaceae
Can hybridize with V. stricta (V. x illicita Moldenke) and with V. hastata (V. x engelmannii Moldenke)
Habitat
Degraded woodlands, shaded floodplains, thickets, meadows, moist fields. Along old logging roads and other artificial shaded habitats. I have most often found it growing at the edge of parking lots.
Associates
Distribution
New Brunswick and Quebec west to ND, south FL to TX.
Morphology
Herbaceous annual or perennial to 1.5 m. Stem solitary but often branching from near the base. Leaves broadly lanceolate to oblong-ovate, petiolate, 5-12 cm, crenate-serrate. Spikes slender, forming a terminal panicle; bracts ovate, acuminate, ciliate; calyx with 5 short, unequal teeth; corolla white, the tube barely exserted, about 2 mm wide, with obtuse lobes. Fruit a nutlet, exposed at the top, 1-2 mm.
Notes
Flowers mid July to mid September
Wetland indicator: Upland
The specific epithet means "nettle-like foliage".
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of
Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
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Michael Hough © 2005 |