Verbena
genus of plants
Verbena (), also known as vervain or (in obsolete spelling) 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.
Description
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.
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.
“Verbena” enters the record as genus of plants. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Verbena, genus and plants can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Verbena” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Verbena, genus and plants provides the most credible route into that argument.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q165290. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Verbena”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Verbena primary sources, Verbena archive and Verbena research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Verbena” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.