Verbena montevidensis Spreng.

Uruguayan Vervain

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Uruguayan Vervain is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Verbena family (Verbenaceae). It is native to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In the United States it has been collected in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana., Oregon, and Texas. In Alabama it occurs primarily in the southern half of the state. Uruguayan Vervain occurs on roadsides, around the edges of fields, in ditches, and in low woods. It is an annual with a tap root. Stems are erect, 1-3 feet in height, glabrous or glabrate, green in color, and 4-angled in cross section. Leaves are opposite, sessile, elliptic to lanceolate in outline, glabrous or pubescent along the veins on the lower surface of the leaf, with entire or with shallow tooth towards the tip of the leaf. The leaves are often deciduous by flowering. Flowers are produced in spikes. The spikes are in 3’s arranged in compound cymes. The central spike is short stalked. The individual flowers are very small and pale blue, lavender, or whitish in color. The calyx is green in color and pubescent. The corolla has a tubular portion expanding into 5 lobes. The fruit is a nutlet. Uruguayan Vervain is similar and often confused with Brazilian Vervain (Verbena brasiliensis Vellozo). Uruguyan Vervain differs in being a shorter plant, having the central spikes pedunculate, usually having glabrous inflorescence branches, and having smaller flowers.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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