Appearance
"Verbena bonariensis" is a tall and slender-stemmed perennial. It can grow to 6 ft tall and can spread to 3 ft wide. At maturity, it will develop a woody base. Fragrant lavender to rose-purple flowers are in tight clusters located on terminal and axillary stems, blooming from mid-summer until fall frost. The stem is square with very long internodes. Leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate with a toothed margin and grow up to 4 in long.
Naming
"Verbena" is derived from Latin, meaning ‘sacred bough’, in reference to the leafy twigs of vervaine which were historically carried by priests, used in wreaths for druidic rituals, and for medicine. Named by Virgil and Pliny the Elder. The common name, vervaine, comes from the Celtic name, ‘ferfain’.Its specific epithet "bonariensis" means ‘from Buenos Aires, Argentina’. ‘Buenos’ means ‘good’ and ‘aires’ means ‘air’.There are two named subspecies:
⤷ "Verbena bonariensis" subsp. "bonariensis" L.
⤷ "Verbena bonariensis" subsp. "conglomerata" Briq."V. bonariensis" self-seeds readily. This ability has raised concerns that it may become an invasive species and noxious weed in favorable habitats. It has naturalized in a number of southern United States.
Presently, the plant is on the invasive species watchlist for Washington state, naturalized in tropical and southern Africa, temperate Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the West Indies, Macaronesia and the Mascarene Islands. According to Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk, it is considered a weed in Fiji, New Guinea and other South Pacific islands.
References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
