Annual herb with creeping stems that root at the nodes. Leaves to 2.5 cm wide, ovate, 3-parted or variously cut. Flower cluster a dense terminal head. Flowers reddish to violet. [V. erinoides Lam.]

S America

 

V. officinalis L., Common Verbena (Vervain, Juno's Tears), from S Europe is a lanky perennial herb sometimes to 1m tall, stems 4-angled with rough edges. Upper leaves to about 6 cm long, deeply cut, rough. Lower leaves small and more or less entire. Flower clusters in elongating, dense, branched spikes; spring to summer. Flowers twice as long as the calyx, lilac to pink with a tube to 3.5 mm long. Widely naturalised on disturbed and waste ground.

V. peruviana (L.) Britt. from Argentina to S Brazil is a creeping perennial herb with upright branches. Leaves to 5 cm long, more or less ovate, saw-toothed or roundtoothed, rough. Flower clusters long-stalked, dense. Flowers red. [V. chamaedrifolia Juss.] V. 'Alba' Flowers white.

V. tenera Spreng. from Argentina to Brazil is a shrubby, tufted perennial herb. Leaves to 2.5 cm long, lobed, hairy. Flower clusters elongating. Flowers reddish violet.

V. tenuisecta Briq., Moss Verbena, from S America is a perennial creeping or scrambling herb to about 0.5 m tall. Leaves triangular in outline, to 4 cm long, 3 cm wide, hairy at first, divided into fine linear segments with margins rolled under. Flower clusters terminal, sometimes with a flat-topped head; spring to early summer. Flowers white, violet or purple, the tube 1-1.5 cm long. Widely naturalised inland weed found along roadsides and on wasteland.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Verbenaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.