(Plate CXXXIX.)

Family

Vervain.

Colour

Purple.

Odour

Scentless.

Range

Florida to S. Carolina and westward.

Time of Bloom

May-August.

Flowers: growing closely in terminal spikes. Calyx: tubular; with five unequal teeth, long, slender. Corolla: salver-shape; long; with five lobes: bearded in the throat. Stamens: four, included. Pistil: one; stigma, two-lobed. Leaves: opposite; tapering into a long petiole; thrice divided and the lobes deeply toothed; hairy. Stem: creeping at the base; forking; hairy.

As a hardy plant this verbena is rivalled by few in brightness of expression. It is not so beautiful as the Brazilian varieties which receive so much consideration from the gardeners, but it has many of their characteristics, and is intermingled with them in cultivation. In the language of flowers these plants have been chosen as emblems of sensibility.