| Family Name | Verbenaceae |
| Scientific name | Verbena officinalis L. |
| Common name | Verbena |
| Growth habit | It grows up to a metre/yard high, with an upright habit |
| Leaf | Leaves are 5 to 10 centimeters long, variously lobed and narrowed to the base; the lower ones are stalked, pinnatifid or coarsely toothed, more or less hairy, and usually hoary on the nerves beneath; this upper ones are without stalks and 3-lobed |
| Flower | Flowers are small, 4 to 6 millimeters long, without stalks and borne on dense, bracteate heads which elongate as the fruit ripens. |
| Fruit | Fruit is dry, ultimately spreading into four 1-seeded nutlets which are oblong and dorsally smooth, their under faces covered with minute, white flaking cells. |
| More to learn | Common Vervain was scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus his 1753 Species Plantarum. The scientific name references the Ancient Roman term verbena, used for any sacrificial herb considered very powerful (as described e.g. by Pliny the Elder). Officinalis, meanwhile, is Latin for "used in medicine or herbalism". |
| Properties | Considered analgesic, antibacterial, anticoagulant, antifebrile, antispasmodic, antitumor, astringent, depurative, diaphoretic, diuretic, , stimulant, tonic. |
| Treats | Whole plant medicine in medical, slightly cold, bitter, function expelling blood circulation, cut malaria, attending joint pain, bruises, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, malaria and other symptoms; roots can cure dysentery, malaria. |
| Reference | Philippine Medical Plants e-how Nature Museum |