''Verbena menthifolia'' is a species of

verbena ''Verbena'' (), also known as vervain or 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 a ...

known by the common name mint-leaved vervain or mint vervain. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it occurs in many types of open, dry habitat such as

desert scrub Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this ...

. This

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

produces one or more rough-haired, erect stems up to about 75 centimeters in maximum height. The hairy leaves are a few centimeters long and are divided near the base into a few narrow lobes which have serrated edges. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is made up of one to three narrow, erect spikes of flowers up to 30 centimeters long. The flowers are spaced, not densely packed on the slender spike. Each flower has a small purple corolla 2 or 3 millimeters wide.

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External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
menthifolia Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of the California desert regions Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Taxa named by George Bentham Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Verbenaceae-stub