Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Blue Vervain

Pin Oak Marsh, July 19, 2014

Verbena hastata (Vervain family - Verbenaceae). Also known as American Blue Vervain. Elegant plants reach six feet tall with erect branches and opposite leaves. Leaves are stalked, pointed and coarsely toothed. Many erect spikes of small, blue flowers in loose candelabra-like clusters near the top of each plant. Blooms midsummer into fall.

Common in wet prairies, low pastures, marshes and stream banks throughout the tallgrass region. The plant is native to North America.

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