Family: Verbenaceae
Verbena officinalis
Citation:
L., Sp. Pl. 20 (1753).
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: Common verbena.
Description:
Erect diffusely branched perennial, 30-90 cm high; stem longitudinally ribbed, scabrid on ridges; leaves shortly petiolate or sessile with a narrow base, ovate-cuneate, oblong or lanceolate, pinnatifid to pinnatipartite or coarsely-toothed, 2-10 cm long, 0.7-4 cm wide, strigulose, with the upper ones often sessile and entire.
Spikes terminal, pedunculate, solitary or in lax panicles, slender, glandular-pubescent, 10-25 cm long; flowers distant in the lower part of the spike; bracts ovate-acuminate, ciliate, up to half as long as the calyx; calyx 5-toothed, 2.5-3 mm long, glandular-pubescent; corolla pale-pink or lilac, twice as long as the calyx, glabrous.
Mericarps 1.5-2 mm long, reddish-brown, with 4 or 5 longitudinal ribs on the back.
| Flowering branch, flower and opened flower.
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Image source: fig. 545B in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Published illustration:
Keble-Martin (1965) The concise Bristish flora in colour, p. 67; Munir in Jessop (1981) Flora of central Australia, fig. 390; Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New south Wales, p. 569.
Distribution:
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S.Aust.: NW, LE, GT, FR, EA, MU, SL, SE. N.T.; Qld; N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas. Widespread in temperate countries of the world; native to the Mediterranean region.
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Conservation status:
naturalised
Flowering time: mainly Oct. — Jan.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
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