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Verbena

{{Short description|Genus of plants}}

{{About|the plant genus}}

{{Redirect|Vervain}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Eisenkraut, Passau.JPG

|image_caption = Common vervain, Verbena officinalis

|taxon = Verbena

|authority = L.{{cite web |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?12680 |title=Genus: Verbena L. |date=2004-01-29 |access-date=2011-08-29}}

|type_species = Verbena officinalis

|type_species_authority = L.

|subdivision = See text

|synonyms_ref = {{cite web |url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:330551-2 |title=Verbena L. |author= |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=14 May 2021 }}

|synonyms = {{hidden begin|title = List}}

  • Aubletia Le Monn. ex Rozier
  • Billardiera Moench
  • Burseria Loefl.
  • Glandularia J.F.Gmel.
  • Helleranthus Small
  • Obletia Rozier
  • Patya Neck.
  • Shuttleworthia Meisn.
  • Styleurodon Raf.
  • Stylodon Raf.
  • Uwarowia Bunge
  • Verbenella Spach

{{hidden end}}

}}

Verbena ({{IPAc-en|v|ər|ˈ|b|iː|n|ə}}),{{cite book |title=Western Garden Book |year=1995 |pages=606–07 |publisher=Sunset Books}} also known as vervain or 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.

Naming

In English, the name Verbena is usually used in the United States and the United Kingdom; elsewhere, the terms verveine or vervain are in use.{{cite web | title=Amazing Benefits of Verveine Tea: Is This a Miracle Tea? | website=Tea Reviews | url= https://teareviews.co.uk/verveine/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613023616/https://teareviews.co.uk/verveine/ | access-date= 19 November 2022 | archive-date=2021-06-13 }}

Description

File:Verbena officinalis Sturm22.jpg of common vervain (V. officinalis) from Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen by Johann Georg Sturm and Jacob Sturm, 1796]]

Verbena is a herbaceous flowering plant, belonging to the Verbenaceae family, and may be annual or perennial depending on the species. The leaves are usually opposite, simple, and in many species hairy, often densely so. The flowers are small, with five petals, and borne in dense spikes. Typically some shade of blue, they may also be white, pink, or purple, especially in cultivars.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-19 |title=Year of the Verbena |url=https://ngb.org/year-of-the-verbena/ |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=National Garden Bureau |language=en-US}}

The genus can be divided into a diploid North American and a polyploid South American lineage, both with a base chromosome number of seven. The European species is derived from the North American lineage. It seems that verbena as well as the related mock vervains (Glandularia) evolved from the assemblage provisionally treated under the genus name Junellia; both other genera were usually included in the Verbenaceae until the 1990s.{{cite journal |author=S. M. Botta |author2=S. Martinez |author3=M. E. Mulguta de Romero |name-list-style=amp |year=1995 |title=Novedades nomenclaturales en Verbenaceae |trans-title=Nomenclatural revisions in Verbenaceae |journal=Hickenia |volume=2 |pages=127–128}} Intergeneric chloroplast gene transfer by an undetermined mechanism – though probably not hybridization – has occurred at least twice from vervains to Glandularia, between the ancestors of the present-day South American lineages and once more recently, between V. orcuttiana or V. hastata and G. bipinnatifida. In addition, several species of verbena are of natural hybrid origin; the well-known garden vervain/verbena has an entirely muddy history. The relationships of this close-knit group are therefore hard to resolve with standard methods of computational phylogenetics.{{cite journal |author1=Yao-Wu Yuan |author2=Richard G. Olmstead |name-list-style=amp |year=2008 |title=A species-level phylogenetic study of the Verbena complex (Verbenaceae) indicates two independent intergeneric chloroplast transfers |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=23–33 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2008.04.004 |pmid=18495498|bibcode=2008MolPE..48...23Y }}

Cultivation

Image:Verbena bonariensis2.jpg (V. bonariensis) as an ornamental plant]]

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.{{cite book |title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants |year=2008 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|page=1136}}

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.

The hybrid cultivars "Silver Anne"{{cite web |url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=5445 |title=RHS Plant Selector Verbena 'Silver Anne' (G) AGM / RHS Gardening |publisher=Apps.rhs.org.uk |access-date=2013-05-06 |archive-date=2012-12-24 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121224065446/http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=5445 |url-status=dead }} and "Sissinghurst"{{cite web |url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=4286 |title=RHS Plant Selector Verbena 'Sissinghurst' (G) AGM / RHS Gardening |publisher=Apps.rhs.org.uk |access-date=2013-05-06 |archive-date=2012-12-24 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121224041452/http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=4286 |url-status=dead }} have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Pests and diseases

For some verbena pathogens, see List of verbena diseases. Cultivated verbenas are sometimes parasitized by sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and spread this pest to other crops.

Uses

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.{{cite web|title=Vervain|url=https://www.drugs.com/npp/vervain.html|publisher=Drugs.com|access-date=7 March 2018|date=2009}} Verbena has been listed as one of the 38 plants used to prepare Bach flower remedies,{{cite book|author=D. S. Vohra|title=Bach Flower Remedies: A Comprehensive Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=icG8onA0ys8C&pg=PR3|access-date=2 September 2013|date=1 June 2004|publisher=B. Jain Publishers|isbn=978-81-7021-271-3|page=3}} a kind of alternative medicine promoted for its effect on health. According to Cancer Research UK, "essence therapists believe that using essences can help to increase your mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. However, essences are not used to prevent, control, or cure cancer or any other physical condition."{{cite web

|url=http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/essence-therapy

|title=Flower remedies

|publisher=Cancer Research UK

|access-date=11 November 2016

}}

The essential oil of various species, mainly common vervain, is traded as "Spanish verbena oil". Considered inferior{{Cite web |title=Verbena |url=https://hyperleap.com/topic/Verbena |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=frontend |language=en}} to oil of lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora) in perfumery, it is of some commercial importance for herbalism.

In culture

{{See also|Verbena (disambiguation)}}

Verbena has long been associated with divine and other supernatural forces. It was called "tears of Isis" in ancient Egypt, and later called "Hera's tears". In ancient Greece, it was dedicated to Eos Erigineia. The generic name is the Latin term for a plant sacred to the ancient Romans.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ndDtX-RjYkC |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, Volume 4: R-Z |year=2000 |first=Umberto |last=Quattrocchi |publisher=Taylor & Francis US |isbn=978-0-8493-2678-3 |page=2787}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ6PyhVuecwC |title=The Names of Plants |first=D. |last=Gledhill |edition=4th |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86645-3 |year=2008 |page=399}} Pliny the Elder describes verbena presented on Jupiter altars; it is not entirely clear if this referred to a verbena rather than the general term for prime sacrificial herbs.{{primary source inline|date=November 2007}}

{{verse translation

|lang=la

|Nulla tamen Romae nobilitatis plus habet quam hiera botane. aliqui aristereon, nostri verbenacam vocant. haec est quam legatos ferre ad hostes indicavimus; hac Iovis mensa verritur, domus purgantur lustranturque. genera eius duo: foliosa, quam feminam putant, mas rarioribus foliis.{{cite book |last1=Pliny the Elder |title=Naturalis Historia |pages=Liber XXV, Section LIX |url=https://la.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Naturalis_Historia/Liber_XXV}}

|No plant however is so renowned among the Romans as hiera botane ('sacred plant'). Some call it aristereon, and Latin writers verbenaca. This is the plant which I mentioned as carried to the enemy by envoys. With this the table of Jupiter is swept, and homes are cleansed and purified. There are two kinds of it; one has many leaves and is thought to be female, the other, the male, has fewer leaves.{{cite book |last1=Pliny the Elder |title=Natural History |pages=Book 25, Section 59 |url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Natural_History_(Rackham,_Jones,_%26_Eichholz)/Book_25}}

|attr1=Pliny the Elder, {{lang|la|Naturalis Historia}} Liber XXV, LIX

|attr2=translated by Harris Rackham

}}

Pliny the Elder notes "the Magi especially make the maddest statements about the plant: that [among other things] a circle must be drawn with iron round the plant". The common names of verbena in many Central and Eastern European languages often associate it with iron. These include for example the Dutch {{lang|nl|IJzerhard}} ("iron-hard"), Danish {{lang|da|Læge-Jernurt}} ("medical ironwort"), German {{lang|de|Echtes Eisenkraut}} ("true ironherb"), Slovak {{lang|sk|Železník lekársky}} ("medical ironherb"), and Hungarian {{lang|mg|vasfű}} ("iron grass").

In the early Christian era, folk legend stated that V. officinalis was used to stanch Jesus' wounds after his removal from the cross. It was consequently called "holy herb"{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAagnZNb0cAC&pg=PA197 |title=Dictionary of Plant Lore |last=Watts|first=D. C. |date=2007 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=9780080546025|pages=197|language=en}} or (e.g. in Wales) "Devil's bane".{{Cite web |title=Aconitum uncinatum (Appalachian Blue Monkshood, Blue Rocket, Devil's Helmet, Eastern Blue Monkshood, Eastern Monkshood, Monkshood, Southern Blue Monkshood, Wild Monkshood, Wolf's Bane) {{!}} North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/aconitum-uncinatum/ |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=plants.ces.ncsu.edu}}

According to the Wiccan writer Doreen Valiente, Vervain flowers signify the goddess Diana and are often depicted on cimaruta, traditional Italian amulets.{{cite book |last1=Valiente |first1=Doreen |title=An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present |date=1994 |publisher=The Crowood Press |isbn=9780719826917 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XHhGDwAAQBAJ&dq=doreen+valiente+%22cimaruta%22+vervain&pg=PT88}} In the 1870 The History and Practice of Magic by "Paul Christian" (Jean-Baptiste Pitois), it is employed in the preparation of a mandragora charm.Pitois, Christian (1952). The History and Practice of Magic, Volume 2, Forge Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DXIKAQAAIAAJ&q=mandragora+verbena p. 402]. The book also describes its antiseptic capabilities (p. 336), and use as a protection against spells (pp. 339, 414).Pitois, (1952) [https://books.google.com/books?id=DXIKAQAAIAAJ&q=verbena pp. 336, 339, 414] Romani people use vervain for love and good luck.{{cite book|title=Herbal Magick: A Guide to Herbal Enchantments, Folklore, and Divination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpWMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82|author=Gerina Dunwich| date=September 2019 | publisher=Weiser Books | isbn=9781633411586 }}

While common vervain is not native to North America, it has been introduced there; for example, the Pawnee have adopted it as an entheogen enhancer and in oneiromancy (dream divination), much as Calea zacatechichi is used in Mexico.

An indeterminate vervain is among the plants on the eighth panel of the New World Tapestry (Expedition to Cape Cod).{{cite web |url=https://www.mayflower-400.com/new-world-tapestry/ |title=New World Tapestry |date=17 February 2020 |publisher=Mayflower 400 |access-date=16 July 2021 |archive-date=16 July 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210716192109/https://www.mayflower-400.com/new-world-tapestry/ |url-status=live }}

In the Victorian language of flowers, verbena held the dual meaning of enchantment and sensibility.{{Cite web|url=http://www.languageofflowers.com/flowermeaning.htm|title=Language of Flowers - Flower Meanings, Flower Sentiments|website=www.languageofflowers.com|access-date=2016-11-26}}

Species

The following species are accepted:

(See also Aloysia and Junellia for species formerly placed here.)

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Gallery

File:Verbena obsession cascade pink 163940 02.jpg |Verbena obsession cascade pink

File:Verbena bracteata NPS-1.jpg|Large-bracted Vervain (V. bracteata)

File:Verbena rigida0.jpg|Verbena rigida

File:Verbena speciosa1.jpg|Verbena speciosa

File:Superbena® Scarlet Star or Superbena® Raspberry.jpg|Superbena® Scarlet Star or Superbena® Raspberry

File:Verbena stricta NPS-001.jpg|Hoary Vervain (V. stricta)

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Wikispecies}}

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{{Medicinal herbs & fungi}}

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Category:Garden plants

Category:Verbenaceae genera

Category:Medicinal plants