Verbena officinalis
Common names
vervain
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Violet/Purple, White
Detailed description
Annual or short-lived perennial; stems to 80 cm tall, square, often scabrid on angles. Most leaves variously pinnatifid or pinnatisect (basal ones often deeply toothed), mostly petiolate (uppermost often sessile), sometimes scabrid, with hairs little swollen at base; lamina 3-6 × 1-4 cm, ± rhombic or oblanceolate; lobes oblong or ovate; veins not impressed above; base ± attenuate; apex obtuse to acute. Infl. very loosely paniculate; spikes to c. 15 cm long at maximum flowering, elongating to 25 cm at fruiting, slender, puberulent; fls soon becoming distant. Bracts ½–⅔ length of calyx, lanceolate to ovate, somewhat keeled, acuminate, hairy. Calyx 2–3 mm long, hairy; teeth acute, green or mauvish. Corolla tube > calyx, somewhat hairy outside; limb 4–5 mm diam., mauve or lavender, drying a similar colour. Nutlets c. 2 mm long, oblong, reddish brown, strongly ribbed dorsally, finely white-papillate and flattened ventrally.
Similar taxa
Most similar to V. littoralis but separated by the pinnatifid to pinnatisect leaves; usually densely glandular inflorescence axis, and spikes 10–35–(40) cm long, not contracted.
Distribution
North Island; South Island: widespread and common, rarer North of the Volcanic Plateau.
Habitat
Roadsides, stony river banks, street gutters, and other waste and open disturbed places, sometimes open or depleted pastures, up to 900 m.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
November–March
Year naturalised
1867
Origin
Europe, N. Africa, W. Asia
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FACU: Facultative Upland
Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).
Other information
Etymology
officinalis: From the Latin officina shortened from opificina which originally meant ‘workshop’ but later came to mean a monastic storeroom, herb-room or pharmacy. Refers to the plant’s real or perceived medicinal value.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
VEROFF
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Webb CJ, Sykes WR, Garnock-Jones PJ. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV. Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons. Botany Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Christchurch, NZ. 1365 p.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (5 March 2022). Brief description and Distribution sections are copied from Webb et al. (1988).