Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous perennials, stems to 1.5 m tall, usually solitary, 4-angled, hirsute-hispid with spreading hairs.

Leaves: Opposite, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, 3-12 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide, obtuse to acute at the apex, tapering at the base, margins crenate to serrate, strigose and somewhat pustulate above, hirsute-strigose, especially along the midrib and veins beneath, blades subsessile or the petioles less than 1 cm long.

Flowers: Small and inconspicuous, white to bluish or purple, corollas somewhat 2-lipped, to 2 mm broad, barely surpassing the calyx, fruiting calyx to 2 mm long, bracts and bractlets inconspicuous, stamens 4 in 2 pairs, included, filaments, flowers borne in several slender, elongate spikes which become open in fruit.

Fruits: Schizocarp of 2-4 trigonous nutlets with a convex back, faintly striate, to 1.5 mm long. The fruits are usually remote and enclosed by the calyx.

Ecology: Found in diverse soils along streams, from 5,000-10,500 ft (1524-3200 m); flowering September-October.

Distribution: Florida to Texas, and Arizona, south to Central America.

Notes: Look to the blue or white inconspicuous flowers borne in numerous, elongate spikes, the hirsute stems, the short petioles, and the inconspicuous bractlets to help identify this species.

Ethnobotany: There is no specific use recorded for the species, but the genus has uses; a decoction of the roots was taken for colds.

Etymology: Verbena is an ancient Latin name of the common European vervain, while carolina means of or from Carolina.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011