Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Verbena litoralis

Flower head. Photographer Jackie Miles

Flower head with spent flowers: leaf. Photographer Jackie Miles

Plant. Photographer Jackie Miles

Common name

A Verbena 

Family

Verbenaceae

Where found

Grassy areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, and near streams. Coast and ranges north from Moruya. Occasionally on the tablelands.

Notes

Introduced herb to 1.5 m high. Stems much-branched from the base, conspicuously 4-angled in cross section, surface hairless or hairy with short hairs. Leaves opposite each other,  2–10 cm long, 5-30 mm wide, entire to deeply incised and toothed, surfaces finely rough, upper surface with closely appressed stiff hairs, lower surface stiff hairs mainly on the veins, tips blunt to pointed. Flowers pale pink, lilac, or bluish-purple, tubular, the tube 2–3 mm long, with 5 lobes. Calyx 5-toothed. Flowers in many-flowered branched clusters. Flowers throughout the year, mainly October–January..

Verbena litoralis var. litoralis in VICFLORA (31 January 2021).

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Verbena~litoralis (accessed 31 January 2021)