Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

DAKOTA VERBENA

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Glandularia bipinnatifida (Nutt. ) Nutt.

[=Verbena bipinnatifida Nutt.]

Smoky Valley Ranch, Logan County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 6-18 inches

Family: Verbenaceae - Vervain Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Also Called:

Prairie verbena.

Stems:

Prostrate, decumbent or ascending, several to many, stout, to 24 inches long, much-branched from bases, moderately to densely hairy.

Leaves:

Variable, opposite, simple, stalked, 1-3-pinnately divided into linear or linear-oblong segments, .5 to 2.5 inches long, .5 to 2.5 inches wide, stiff-hairy; margins often rolling downward; tips blunt to slightly pointed.

Inflorescences:

Spikes, thick, 1/2 to 8 inches long, umbrella-like, terminal.

Flowers:

5-parted; calyx lobes unequal, veins hairy; corollas 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, lavender, pink, or bluish purple, outer surface hairy; lobes 5, spreading; tips notched; stamens 4, in 2 groups.

Fruits:

4 nutlets, cylindric, pitted, grayish black, each 1-seeded.

Habitat:

Dry prairies, plains, pastures, disturbed areas, and roadsides, most abundant on rocky slopes.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Uses:

Native Americans sometimes used the leaves in treatments of snakebites.

Comments:

Though hardy and drought resistant, Dakota verbena does not compete well with other plants.

Dakota verbena inflorescences