Verbena bracteataCav. ex Lag. & Rodr.

bigbract verbenabracted verbenacommon vervain

WFO wfo-0000331706 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Verbena bracteata, photographed by saltyhiker
fig. a saltyhiker, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-08 / obs. 204859019
Verbena bracteata, photographed by Catherine C. Galley
fig. b Catherine C. Galley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201673878
Verbena bracteata, photographed by Catherine C. Galley
fig. c Catherine C. Galley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197661946
Verbena bracteata, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. d John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 165699527
Verbena bracteata, photographed by Tim Messick
fig. e Tim Messick, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161127192
Verbena bracteata, photographed by Bob Nieman
fig. f Bob Nieman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 160214021
Verbena bracteata, photographed by Victor Heng
fig. g Victor Heng, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 162268177
Verbena bracteata, photographed by mark-groeneveld
fig. h mark-groeneveld, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 155910669

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 54 botanical countries

Regions where Verbena bracteata is native: Alabama, Alberta, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming AlabamaAlbertaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming District of Columbia
Native distribution of Verbena bracteata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 693 in flower of 730 examined

Peak flowering in Nov. Each bar is the share of Verbena bracteata observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 693 of 730 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 16 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Verbena bracteata f. albiflora (Cockerell) Moldenke
  • Verbena bracteata f. brevibracteata (A.Gray) Moldenke
  • Verbena bracteata f. imbricata (Wooton & Standl.) Moldenke
  • Verbena bracteosa Michx.
  • Verbena bracteosa var. albiflora Cockerell
  • Verbena bracteosa var. brevibracteata A.Gray
  • Verbena brevibracteata (A.Gray) Eggert
  • Verbena canescens Chapm.
  • Verbena confinis Greene
  • Verbena imbricata Wooton & Standl.
  • Verbena prostrata Savi
  • Verbena repens Spreng. ex Steud.
  • Verbena rudis Greene
  • Verbena squarrosa Roth
  • Verbena subuligera Greene
  • Zappania bracteosa (Michx.) Poir.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.