Volume 10 > Part 2 > Year 2010 > Page 263 > Verbenaceae > Verbena

Verbena officinalis L.wfo-0000332143

Sp. Pl. 1: 20. 1753; C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4, 2: 565. 1885; H.J.Lam, Verbenaceae Malayan Archipel.: 10. 1919; Dop in Gagnep., Lecomte & Humbert, Fl. Indo-Chine 4: 777. 1935; S.L.Chen & M.G.Gilbert, Fl. China 17: 3. 1994.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Erect annual or perennial herb to ca 1 m tall; stems 4-sided, somewhat pithy and hollow inside, striate outside, ± glabrous; leaves in whorls, narrowly ovate, margin irregularly serrate or pinnatifid, 2–8 x 14 cm, upper and lower surface sparsely covered with adpressed hairs; inflorescence terminal, with simple branching, rachis slender, 10–20 cm long, bracts narrowly triangular, glabrous, margin with scattered hairs, 2–3 mm long, calyx 5-toothed, 2–4 mm long, corolla pale blue or mauve, hypocrateriform, tube straight with limb spreading, tube ca 4 mm long, limb subequally 5-lobed, ca 3 mm across. Stamens inserted towards top of tube, ovary ovoid, fruit dark brown, reticulate on outer surface, usually inside persistent calyx, separating at maturity into 4 mericarps.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Phitsanulok.

Distribution : S & N America, Europe, Middle East, Asia to China and Indonesia, probably here just at the edge of its natural range.

Ecology : On hillsides, in deciduous and evergreen forests, usually on limestone, 500–2,400 m alt.

Vernacular : Nang-dong-lang (นังด้งล้าง)(Karen-Mae Hong Son).