Verbena rigida
Common name
Creeping verbena
Family
Verbenaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Conservation status
Not applicable
Distribution
North Island, South Island: scattered localities as far South as Canterbury.
Habitat
Cultivation escape around gardens, especially by hedges, on roadsides and waste places, occasionally on arable land.
Detailed description
Perennial with creeping underground stems; aerial parts densely scabrid with many hairs bulbous-based; aerial stems spreading towards base, then ascending to c. 1 m tall, square. Leaves sessile, 3-10 × 1-2 cm; basal lvs often obovate; stem lvs narrow-elliptic or elliptic-oblong, sharply dentate or serrate; veins impressed; base ± amplexicaul except in basal lvs; apex acute. Inflorences with several branches, densely hairy; spikes mostly 1.5-2.5 cm long at maximum flowering, elongating to 5 cm long at fruiting, stout; fls dense. Bracts 6-10 mm long, narrow-lanceolate to lanceolate, subulate, rigidly ciliate, somewhat glandular, purple, prominently keeled, well-exserted beyond calyx. Calyx 4-5 mm long; teeth subulate, glandular-hairy, purple. Corolla purple, sometimes drying deep blue; tube 2-3× length of calyx, hairy outside; limb 5-7 mm diam. Nutlets 1.5-2 mm long, oblong, ± light brown, longitudinally ribbed dorsally, white-papillate on flattened ventral surface.
Flowering
January-December
Flower colours
Violet/Purple
Year naturalised
1926
Origin
South Brazil, Uruguay
Etymology
rigida: Rigid
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (5 March 2022). Brief description and Distribution sections are copied from Webb et al. (1988).
References and further reading
Webb C.J., Sykes W.R., & Garnock-Jones P.J. (1988). Flora of New Zealand Volume 4. DSIR, Botany Division.