Blue verbena is a perennial flowering plant found in meadows, fields, and marshes in the US and Canada. It has blue tubular flowers that attract bees and bumblebees, and it has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes by Native Americans. The plant is also important for various animals and insects.
Blue verbena, also known as simpler joy or wild hyssop, is a perennial flowering plant native to the United States and parts of Canada. The plant’s Latin name is Verbena hastata, which means “sacred herb” and “halberd-shaped,” referring to the shape of the basal leaves. The herb is a member of the Verbenaceae family, also known as the Verbena family, which contains numerous aromatic herbs that produce spikes, or clusters, of flowers.
Blue vervain is commonly found in small colonies in meadows, fields, marshes, drainage ditches, and along streams or streams. Each plant can reach up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall, producing long, stalked leaves that are rough to the touch and tapering towards the tip. The square stem branches above the foliage and bears 12 or more flower stalks per plant from summer through fall.
The blue tubular flowers are about 1/8 inch (3 millimeters) across with five small lobes. Blue verbena flowers are pollinated by insects and rich in nectar. They attract bees and bumblebees, which are the main pollinators of the plant. The flowers die back in late fall, but the stem often remains through the winter to disperse the seeds. In late summer, small red shoots appear just below the soil surface, and new stems grow from the shoots the following year.
Native Americans used blue vervain for a variety of culinary and medicinal purposes. The seeds were harvested and ground into flour for cooking or eating raw, and the leaves made into tea. Medicinally, the herb was used as an emetic, or substance that induces vomiting, to treat fevers and stomach problems.
The bruised leaves of the blue verbena plant are used in folk medicine to treat headaches, earaches, and rheumatism. When placed externally on the affected area, the juice from the leaves is believed to relieve pain. The tea made from the leaves is traditionally used to treat piles and kidney or bladder stones.
Although blue vervain has been used by humans for centuries, it is also an important plant for a variety of animals and insects. The vervain moth feeds on grass blades in spring, marsh sparrows and cardinals eat the seeds, and cottontails eat the leaves and stems. Some insects that feed on blue vervain are parasites that can kill the plant if left unchecked. These include vervain leafminer and parasitic powder, which deplete the plant of nutrients.
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