When Does Verbena Bloom? A Detailed Guide to Its Latest Blooming Season
Verbena is also known as purple-topped dragon's tooth grass, wild catnip, dragon's tooth grass, phoenix-neck grass, dragonfly grass, blood-retreating grass, swallowtail grass and so on. It is a perennial upright herbaceous plant of the genus Verbena in the family Verbenaceae, native to Europe, and distributed throughout temperate to tropical regions of the world. The whole plant is used medicinally and has high medicinal value. Let's take a look below at when verbena blooms!
When Does Verbena Bloom?
Verbena usually blooms from June to August. The spike inflorescences of verbena are terminal and axillary, slender and weak, reaching up to 25 baimi when in fruit; the flowers are small, sessile, initially densely clustered, and spaced apart when in fruit. The bracts are slightly shorter than the calyx and have stiff hairs. The calyx is about 2 mm long, has stiff hairs, has 5 veins, and the pits between the veins are thin in texture and pale in color. The corolla is pale purple to blue, 4 to 8 mm long, slightly hairy on the outside, with 5 lobes. There are 4 stamens, inserted at the middle of the corolla tube, with short filaments. The ovary is hairless.
The Growing Environment of Verbena
Verbena is native to Europe and often grows along roadsides, on hillsides, by streams or beside forests from low to high altitudes. It prefers dry, sunny environments and is not strict about soil requirements. It likes fertilizer and moisture, fears waterlogging, and is not tolerant of drought. It can grow in ordinary soil, but grows most vigorously in deep, fertile loam and sandy loam; low-lying, waterlogged land is not suitable for planting.
The Flower Language and Culture of Verbena
The flower language of verbena is justice, expectation, purity and innocence (white verbena), expectation of one's love returning, working together with one heart, and harmony in the family bringing prosperity in all endeavors (red verbena). In Christianity, verbena is regarded as a sacred flower and is often used to decorate altars of religious significance. In addition, in the past, when people generally believed that illness was caused by a witch's curse, it was often placed at the bedside of the sick to break the spell. In ancient Europe it was regarded as a precious sacred herb and was given the symbol of peace in religious celebration ceremonies. In literary and artistic works, it has a restraining effect on vampires.