narrow-leaved vervain

(Verbena simplex)

Conservation Status
narrow-leaved vervain
 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

S3 - Vulnerable

     
  Minnesota

Special Concern

     
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Narrow-leaved vervain is a 4 to 27½ (10 to 70 cm) tall, erect, perennial forb with narrow leaves and a spiked inflorescence. It grows in full sun in moderately dry to dry soil in upland prairies, hill prairies and old fields; on roadsides and railroad rights-of-way; and in other open, disturbed areas. It occurs in the United States from New Hampshire to Minnesota south to Texas and Florida, and in adjacent Canadian provinces. In Minnesota, where it is at the northwestern extent of its range, it has been recorded in only five counties. In two of those counties, the records are historical, and it is now presumed to be locally extinct (extirpated). It is listed as a special concern species in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

There may be several stems that are erect to strongly curved up from the base (ascending) or just a single erect stem. The stems are moderately or strongly four-angled and are sparsely to moderately covered with straight, strongly ascending hairs. They are usually unbranched below the inflorescence.

The leaves are opposite, unlobed, narrowly lance-shaped, inversely egg-shaped, or linear, 1¼ to 4 (3 to 10 cm) long, and up to (15 mm) wide. They are stalkless or on a short leaf stalk, tapered at the base, and sharply or bluntly pointed at the tip. The upper and lower surfaces are sparsely covered with appressed hairs. The upperside appears wrinkled and is sometimes nearly hairless. The veins are conspicuously raised on the underside. The margins are coarsely toothed, more so or sometimes only toward the tip.

The inflorescence is a single, 1½ to 10 (4 to 25 cm) long, 3 16 to 5 16 (5 to 8 mm) in diameter spike of many flowers at the end of the stem. The spike is moderately dense, the flowers strongly overlapping except at the base of the spike. Each flower is subtended by a single lance-shaped, to 3 16 long, modified leaf (bract). The bract is usually shorter than the whorl of sepals (calyx) at the base of the flower.

Each flower is about ¼ in diameter. There are 5 sepals, 5 petals, 4 stamens, and 1 style. The sepals are green and are united into a (3 to 4 mm) long calyx tube with 5 pointed teeth. The petals are to ¼ (4 to 6 mm) long. They are usually lavender or purple to white, or white tinged with blue, but rarely white. They are fused at the base into a slender, funnel-shaped tube then separated into 5 spreading lobes. The lobes are to ¼ (4 to 6 mm) in diameter and blunt and rounded at the tip.

Each flower produces a cluster of 4 greenish-brown to reddish-brown nutlets that are enclosed in the persistent calyx but are exposed at the tip. Each nutlet is narrowly oblong to narrowly oblong elliptic in outline and 1 16 to long. They are ridged on the bottom and have a few cross ridges toward the top.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

4 to 27½

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

Lavender or purple to white, or white tinged with blue, rarely white

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Moderately dry to dry. Upland prairies, hill prairies and old fields; roadsides, railroads, and other open, disturbed areas. Full sun.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

Mid-June through mid-August

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 28, 29, 30, 72.

 
  3/14/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Common in eastern United States. Extremely rare in Minnesota

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Superorder Asteranae  
 

Order

Lamiales (mints, plantains, olives, and allies)  
 

Family

Verbenaceae (verbena)  
  Tribe Verbeneae  
  Genus Verbena (vervain)  
  Section Verbena  
  Series Simplices  
       
 

Synonyms

 
  Verbena angustifolia  
       
 

Common Names

 
 

narrow-leaf vervain

narrow-leaved vervain

narrowleaf vervain

simple verbena

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Ascending

Growing upward at an angle or curving upward from the base.

 

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Calyx

The group of outer floral leaves (sepals) below the petals, occasionally forming a tube.

 

Linear

Long, straight, and narrow, with more or less parallel sides, like a blade of grass.

 

Sepal

An outer floral leaf, usually green but sometimes colored, at the base of a flower.

 

Spike

The arrangement of an unbranched, elongated inflorescence with stalkless flowers that mature from the base toward the tip. In Cyperaceae, it also denotes a collection of one or more stalkless flowers, each subtended by scales, on a single inflorescence axis.

 
 
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Plant

 
    narrow-leaved vervain   narrow-leaved vervain  
           
 

Inflorescence

 
    narrow-leaved vervain      
           
 

Flowers

 
    narrow-leaved vervain   narrow-leaved vervain  
           
    narrow-leaved vervain      
           
 

Leaves

 
    narrow-leaved vervain      

 

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Created: 11/27/2019

Last Updated:

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