Verbena litoralis Kunth
blue vervain
Short-lived perennial; stems square, somewhat scabrid, to c. 1 m tall. Lvs mostly petiolate, the uppermost sometimes subsessile. Lamina of lower lvs to c. 10 × 2.5 cm, lanceolate to oblong or rhomboid, with ± strigulose hairs scarcely swollen at base above and below, usually coarsely or deeply serrate; veins not impressed above; base attenuate; apex acute. Infl. loosely paniculate; spikes to c. 5 cm long at maximum flowering, hairy, elongating to c. 15 cm long at fruiting, slender; fls rather dense but soon becoming distant. Bracts ± = calyx at flowering, lanceolate, keeled, acuminate, ciliate. Calyx 2-3 mm long, glandular-hairy; teeth green, acute. Corolla tube > calyx, rather sparingly hairy outside; limb 2-3 mm diam., bluish or mauve, drying a similar colour. Nutlets c. 1.5 mm long, oblong, faintly ribbed dorsally, brown, finely white-papillate on flattened ventral surface.
N.: abundant, especially near the sea, in N. Auckland, Auckland, and Bay of Plenty, uncommon S. to Palmerston North and Levin.
C. and S. America 1911
Roadsides, tracks, waste places, open places, open hill slopes, usually commonest in and near settlements.
FL Jan-Dec.
V. litoralis has often been mistaken for V. officinalis in N.Z., but the toothed rather than lobed lvs and longer flowering period distinguish it. V. litoralis has also sometimes been erroneously called V. hastata in N.Z.
