VERVAIN (Verbena officinalis), a plant of the family Ver benaceae (q.v.), native to Europe and Asia, common in the south of England, and naturalized across the continent of North America. It is a smooth slender annual, I to 3 ft. high, with oppo site, deeply incised leaves and numerous very slender spikes of purplish or white flowers. To the vervain, which was held in super stitious veneration by the an cient peoples of Great Britain, were ascribed remarkable medici nal virtues, which, however, are now wholly discredited. In the
United States the name vervain is applied to several native spe cies of Verbena, as the white vervain (V. urticifolia), the blue vervain (V. hastata), the hoary vervain (V. stricta), the bracted vervain (V. bracteosa), and the spreading vervain (V. prostrata). Most of these inter-hybridize.