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Verbena
Also called Vervains, Verbena, Vervain, Verbenas
Verbena is a genus of about 150 annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants, mostly from the Americas and Asia, grown for their small blue, white, pink or purple flower spikes. Most garden verbenas need full sun, well-drained soil and little water, and many are drought tolerant.
Verbena (), also known as vervain or (in obsolete spelling) verveine, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 150 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the Americas and Asia; however, Verbena officinalis, the common vervain or common verbena, is the type species and native to Europe.
Some species, hybrids and cultivars of verbena are used as ornamental plants. They are drought-resistant, tolerating full to partial sun, and enjoy well-drained, average soils. Plants are usually grown from seed. Some species and hybrids are not hardy and are treated as half-hardy annuals in bedding schemes. The most common cultivated kinds of verbena for the garden are the freeze-intolerant garden verbena (V. × hybrida), purpletop vervain (V. bonariensis), and various cold-hardy mock vervains (V. canadensis, V. peruviana).
They are valued in butterfly gardening in suitable climates, attracting Lepidoptera such as the Hummingbird hawk-moth, Chocolate albatross, or the Pipevine swallowtail, and also hummingbirds, especially V. officinalis, which is also grown as a honey plant.
Although verbena ("vervain") has been used in herbalism and traditional medicine, usually as an herbal tonic, there is no high-quality evidence for its effectiveness. Verbena has been listed as one of the 38 plants used to prepare Bach flower remedies, a kind of alternative medicine promoted for its effect on health. According to Cancer Research UK, "Essences do not prevent, control, or cure cancer or any other physical condition.
Glandularia aristigera · Verbena tenera · Purpletop vervain · Bigbract verbena · Brazilian vervain · Verbena canadensis · Swamp verbena · Seashore vervain · Herb of the cross · Verbena peruviana · Tuberous vervain
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Verbena by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
