Verbena officinalis L., Vervain

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

Verbena officinalis is a square-stemmed taprooted perennial with pale green stems, 30-100 cm long, that can be either erect, procumbent or prostrate and that produces leafy branches that are lax and spreading. The opposite leaves are ovate in outline, pinnatisect or pinnatifid, the lobes broad but acute at apex, bluntly toothed (serrate) with prominent nerves. On account of its square stems and two-lipped, pinkish flowers, superficially Vervain looks like a member of the Lamiaceae (= Labiatae), but the inflorescence is a simple, leafless spike and the ovary of the flower is not deeply four-lobed (Garrard & Streeter 1983; Sell & Murrell 2009).

Vervain has been grown around human settlements since the Neolithic and certainly in antiquity was cultivated as a useful medicinal herb and also as a magical charm, both protective against witches and demons and able to conjure up devilry of its own (Grigson 1955, 1987; Mabey 1996; R.M. Burton, in: Preston et al. 2002).

In uncultivated settings, V. officinalis is a plant of open or bare ground in rough grassland, hedge banks, scrub, roadsides, sunny pastures and waste ground on well-drained, often calcareous soils (R.M. Burton, in: Preston et al. 2002). The established strategy of V. officinalis is categorised as CSR by Grime et al. (1988, 2007), meaning that it combines features of all three primary strategies, ie Competitor, Stress-tolerator and Ruderal species.

.

Flowering reproduction

V. officinalis flowers from July to September. The inflorescences each bear many small, pinkish to pale-lilac, two-lipped flowers that offer both nectar and pollen and are either pollinated by hoverflies, small bees and butterflies, or they self-pollinate (Grieve 1931; Garrard & Streeter 1983). The flowers have no perfume and the plant is slightly bitter and astringent in taste.

Fermanagh occurrence

There is only one old record for this perennial in the Fermanagh Flora Database. It has not been seen in the VC for over 70 years and the current VC Recorders (RSF & RHN) regard it as locally extinct. The solitary record was listed by Meikle et al. (1975) in their Revised Typescript Flora as a weed of former cultivation occurring in neglected ground in Carrothers' garden. They added the comment that, "the species is accredited with malign powers in Fermanagh as elsewhere". Vervain is also listed as a rare casual introduced species in FNEI 3.

Irish occurrence

Elsewhere in Ireland, this perennial is rare to occasional, most often recorded in the southern half of the island and distributed in a very scattered manner. It typically occurs in small numbers in open habitats including roadsides, limestone quarries, sand pits and on walls and ruins (Cat Alien Pl Ir).

Previously, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, V. officinalis was very much more commonly grown in Ireland than is currently the case, earlier published accounts of the Irish flora describing it as, "plentiful in some parts of the S & W of Ireland and frequent in many midland counties, mostly on limestone" (Cybele Hibernica 1866), and "thoroughly established and often abundant, especially about villages" (Irish Topographical Botany 1901).

In more recent times, the Cen Cat Fl Ir 2 lists records from a total of 28 VCs, not including Fermanagh (H33). The New Atlas map for Ireland displays 38 hectads of the most recent date class (1987-99) in about 18 Irish VCs (uncertainty arises from hectads plotted on or near VC boundaries).

British occurrence

V. officinalis is a locally common plant of S England, widespread northwards to The Wash and with scattered localities as far north as Yorkshire. It is also quite frequent in S Wales and SW England, but only thinly scattered elsewhere and almost entirely absent from N England and all of Scotland (New Atlas).

European and world occurrence

V. officinalis is widely distributed in both temperate and tropical regions and is described as having a Eurasian Southern-temperate distribution. It is thought to have originated in the Mediterranean region from where it spread as a naturalised weed over large areas of Europe, Asia and N America, as well as in many places scattered across the southern hemisphere including in C & S Africa, S Australia, New Zealand and South Sea Islands. Nowadays it has established a discontinuous circumpolar distribution (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1567).

Uses

Vervain had very many, varied uses in herbal medicine, religious and magic rituals, and in folklore practices as a charm from ancient times onward until the 19th century at least, as described in detail by Grieve (1931), Grigson (1955, 1987) and Vickery (2019). In herbal medicine it was recommended for around 30 complaints, being astringent, diaphoretic and antispasmodic. It was used to treat intermittent fevers, ulcers, pleurisy and to be a good galactagogue (ie a stimulant of milk secretion) and febrifuge (ie an agent that reduces fever). Vervain poultices were used for headache, ear-neuralgia and rheumatism. Taken internally, it was used for purging and for easing bowel pain and externally it was applied for treating piles. It was also used in homoeopathy (Grieve 1931).

Names

One derivation of the name 'Vervain' is from the Celtic 'ferfaen', from 'fer', meaning 'to drive away' and 'faen', 'a stone', since the plant was used in herbal medicine to treat bladder problems including stones in the urinary tract (Grieve 1931, p. 831). An alternative derivation is from 'Herba veneris', on account of the supposed aphrodisiac qualities attributed to the plant by the Ancients. Priests used it for sacrifices and hence another attribution, 'Herba sacra', or 'Sacra herba', 'Holy herb', used in sacrifice and purgation (Grieve 1931; Grigson 1955, 1987). The name 'Verbena' was the classical Roman name for 'altar-plants' in general and for this species in particular.

There are a eight alternative local English common names listed by Grigson (1955, 1987) and Vickery (2019), examples of which include 'Berbine', 'Juno's tears', 'Pigeon-grass', 'Simpler's joy' and 'Holy Herb'.

Threats

None.

• Find out more about the format of the species accounts
• View abbreviations
• View references for all species accounts
• View a gazetteer of all the sites