Common Name: VERVAIN FAMILY
Habit: Annual to shrub [tree], generally hairy. Leaf: cauline, opposite, generally toothed; stipules 0. Inflorescence: raceme, spike, or head, generally elongated in fruit; bract generally 1 per flower. Flower: bisexual; calyx generally 4--5-toothed; corolla 4--5-lobed, radial to bilateral, salverform to 2-lipped; stamens 4--5 (if 4, generally in unequal pairs), epipetalous; ovary superior, 2- or 4-lobed, generally 2- chambered, style 1, often with 2 unequal lobes, only 1 stigmatic, lateral. Fruit: 2 or 4 nutlets, drupe-like, or capsule.
Genera In Family: +- 31 genera, +- 920 species: especially American tropics. Some cultivated (Lantana, Verbena, Vitex); some weedy worldwide (Lantana); some used for wood (Tectona, teak). Avicennia included in Acanthaceae.
eFlora Treatment Author: Dieter H. Wilken
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin.

Common Name: VERVAIN
Habit: Annual to perennial herb [shrub]. Stem: often 4-angled; hairs generally short, stiff. Leaf: reduced distally on stem; blade entire to pinnately lobed. Inflorescence: spike, often in panicle-like clusters, generally terminal, generally elongated in fruit. Flower: calyx 5-ribbed, 5-toothed, hairs generally strigose or appressed; corolla 4--5-lobed, generally +- radial, sometimes bilateral and 2-lipped; stamens 4; ovary 4-chambered, ovules 4, style 1, lobes 2, 1 tooth-like, 1 with +- spheric stigma. Fruit: nutlets 4, generally oblong.
Etymology: (Latin: ancient name) Note: Verbena gooddingii, Verbena pulchella often placed in Glandularia (sister to Verbena in strictest sense).
Reference: Munir 2002 J Adelaide Bot Gard 18:21--103; Yeo 1990 Kew Bull 45:101--120; Yuan & Olmstead 2008 Molec Phylogen Evol 48:23--33