Verbena bracteata
Encyclopedia
Verbena bracteata is a species of verbena
known by the common names bigbract verbena, prostrate vervain, and carpet vervain. It is native to North America where it is widespread, occurring throughout the continent except for northern Canada and southern Mexico. It occurs in many types of habitat, especially disturbed areas, where it grows as a common weed
. This annual or biennial herb produces several hairy, spreading stems up to 30 centimeters long forming a low mat on the ground. The hairy leaves are toothed or lobed. The inflorescence
is a spike of flowers which is dense with long, pointed, leaflike bract
s each up to 8 millimeters long. Each small tubular flower is about half a centimeter wide and white to pale purple in color.
Verbena
Verbena , verbenas or vervains, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the New World from Canada south to southern Chile, but some are also native in the Old...
known by the common names bigbract verbena, prostrate vervain, and carpet vervain. It is native to North America where it is widespread, occurring throughout the continent except for northern Canada and southern Mexico. It occurs in many types of habitat, especially disturbed areas, where it grows as a common weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
. This annual or biennial herb produces several hairy, spreading stems up to 30 centimeters long forming a low mat on the ground. The hairy leaves are toothed or lobed. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a spike of flowers which is dense with long, pointed, leaflike bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s each up to 8 millimeters long. Each small tubular flower is about half a centimeter wide and white to pale purple in color.