Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

ROSE VERBENA

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Glandularia canadensis (L. ) Nutt.

[=Verbena canadensis (L. ) Britton]

Ottawa County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 8-24 inches

Family: Verbenaceae - Vervain Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Also Called:

Rose vervain.

Stems:

Ascending or decumbent, several to many, branching from bases, 12 to 24 inches long, glabrous or hairy.

Leaves:

Opposite, simple, variable, on stalks 1 to 3 inches long, ovate to lanceolate in outline, 1 to 3.5 inches long, .5 to 1.5 inch wide, hairy or nearly glabrous; margins incised or cleft; tips pointed.

Inflorescences:

Spikes, many-flowered, initially flattened and head-like, elongate in fruit.

Flowers:

Calyces 5-lobed, about .5 inch long, sparsely glandular-hairy, lobes unequal; corolla tubes topped by 5 spreading, often notched lobes, about .5 inch wide at top, rose, pink, lavender, purple, blue, or white; stamens 4, in 2 groups.

Fruits:

Nutlets, 4, slender, ridged, blackish, 1-seeded.

Habitat:

Rocky prairie hillsides, waste places, open woodlands, and roadsides, most abundant on dry, well-drained sites with sparse vegetation.

Distribution:

Principally east 1/3 of Kansas.

Comments:

This is the showiest of the verbenas. It is the source of many garden hybrids. Rose verbena can be transplanted, but plants usually live only 2-3 years. It grows better from seeds.

Rose verbena