Verbena

an annual flowering herb of the vervain family. Botanically the vervain family is near the mints, but the verbenas look more like phloxes, the flowers being only slightly one-sided. Of 110 species all but one are American. A large number of wild verbenas occur in the United States and the Canadian Provinces, some of them quite handsome; others are weedy. Our beautiful garden varieties are from species native to southern Brazil and the La Plata region. It is expected that valuable strains will be obtained from some of our western verbenas. Verbenas are quick growers from seed planted in the open, and give a fine show of color until killed by hard frosts.