Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous annual to short-lived perennial, taprooted; stems 4- 8 from the base, decumbent- ascending, branched, densely hirsute and sparsely glandular, 10-40 cm.

Leaves: Blades spatulate to elliptic-ovate, midstem blades sparsely to moderately stipitate-glandular, 1.5-4 cm x 10-25 mm, margins incised-serrate, veins impressed adaxially, prominent and whitish abaxially, hirsute on both surfaces; petiole 5-15 mm, winged, sometimes clasping.

Flowers: Spikes solitary and terminal on branches, dense with overlapping fruits, elongate and slender, 4-25 cm; floral bracts ovat-lanceolate, 3.5-6 mm, rachises glandular; calyces 3.5-6 mm, hispid to hirsute, minutely stipitate-glandular, lobes not converging; corollas blue to lavender, tube 3.5-4.5 mm, longer than calyces, limb 3-6 mm in diameter.

Fruits: Nutlets separating at maturity, 2-2.5 mm.

Ecology: Found in sandy or gravelly prairies, flats, ravines, hillsides, roadsides; flowering April-August.

Distribution: c and s AZ, s NM, s CO, s OK and s and w Texas; extending south into n MEX.

Notes: Verbenas can be difficult to distinguish in the field, however, a combination of the following should get you to this species: decumbent-ascending glandular and hispid herb 10-50 cm; persistent leaves deeply toothed or incised with whitish veins from below and sharp points on the ends of many lobes becoming reduced in size moving up the plant; a narrow, terminal spike which is usually dense with fruits(can be sparse below), bracts 3.5-6 mm and purple corollas with 3 lobes above and two lobes below which is slightly larger than the calyx and nutlets 2-3 mm.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Verbena is from the Latin name for vervain, while plicata

Synonyms: Verbena plicata var. degeneri

Editor: FSCoburn 2014