Nettle-leaf verbena

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Nettle-leaf verbena

Nettle-leaf verbena

Nettle-leaf verbena

Nettle-leaf verbena

Nettle-leaf verbena

Nettle-leaf verbena flowers

Nettle-leaf verbena inflorescence

Morphology

Stem

Erect, solitary, slender, simple or much branched, bristly-hairy to nearly glabrous.

Leaves

Opposite, simple, broadly lanceolate or oblong-ovate, 3 to 8 inches long, 1 to 4.8 inches wide, glabrous or with scattered soft-hairy; margins coarsely toothed; tips pointed; stalks .5 to 1.5 inches long.

Inflorescence

Spikes, slender, arranged loosely, panicle-like, sparsely flowered, terminal; flowers remotely spaced; bracts at base of spikes inconspicuous; bracts below each flower inconspicuous. .

Flower

Calyces less than 1/10 inch long, pubescent; lobes awl-shaped, short, nearly equal, not united; corollas white, tube less than 1/12 inch long, barely extending beyond calyx, 5-lobed; lobes blunt; stamens 4.

Fruit

4 nutlets, to 1/12 inch long, each 1-seeded.

Ecology

Habitat

Woods, thickets, moist fields, waste areas, pastures, roadsides, and stream banks; heavy soils.

Distribution

East 2/3 of Kansas.