White Vervain

White vervain, nettle-leaved vervain, and White verbena

White Vervain History and Folkore

White vervain is native to Eastern North America.

White Vervain in the Garden

The white vervaine plant first appears in the spring on a fuzzy, upright green stem that might get a bit purple. It’s also a bit square, though not as square as a mint, which it can superficially resemble at first glance. The simple leaves are serrated and deeply veined and arranged along the stem in an opposite pattern. They are also a bit fuzzy.

The flowers appear on spikes when the weather is warm. There are many tiny white flowers along the spike. They each have five petals. These give way to small seeds that stick to everything. They are annoying, but an important winter food for songbirds. Juncos, my favorite herald of winter, feed off these seeds, as do many species of sparrow

Common Lookalikes:

Stinging nettles: White verbena looks a lot like stinging nettles before it blooms- its Latin name of urticifolia and common name nettle-leaved vervain are not accidents. I confuse these plants all the time.

European vervain

Blue vervain

Mints

White Vervain prefer moist, disturbed soil and partial shade

White vervain prefers a temperate climate with moderate moisture. It grows readily from seed in disturbed areas with full sun to partial shade. Various sources call it an annual, biannual or perennial. My personal observations label it a vigorously self-seeding annual. As it matures, white verbena can grow 3-6 feet tall  with its spikes of tiny flowers with 5 white petals, followed by annoying sticky seeds that can get stuck in hair and on clothing.  It is, however, a valuable North American native wildflower that attracts pollinators in quantity including halictid bees, dagger bees, hover flies and various lepidoptera and feeds winter sparrows and juncos.

Because it isn’t a terribly showy plant- the leaves look like nettles and the flowers are tiny- and because it is rather vigorous in its self-seeding, white verbena is often considered a weed by gardeners. But it is a valuable plant to have on the periphery of the garden due to its appeal to native pollinators. And it is not difficult to weed by hand if it comes to it.

That being said, though the flowers are tiny (and the seeds are annoying) the inflorescences of white verbena in flower in the twilight look a bit like a freeze-frame of white fireworks sparkling against the night sky. Quite lovely. And not nearly as loud.

White Vervain in the Kitchen

While there is no reason to suppose that white verbena is toxic, there is also no reason to suppose it is edible. It seems to be safe when used for tea, though the taste is somewhat bitter and may not appeal to everyone, it is not as bitter as some and almost has a bit of a vague minty aftertaste. It is much too fuzzy to appeal in a salad.

Verbena urticifolia for Healing

Verbena urticifolia has some traditional medicinal uses of the root among the Meskwaki people in the area of what is now known as Minnesota. The root may be fed to those weakened by illness as a stimulant to help revive and strengthen them. And an infusion of the root may be used to treat excess menstruation. (Per http://naeb.brit.org/) I have not tried this, though I would have if I had known prior to my hysterectomy (I used shepherds purse for my murderous menstruations and it worked well.)  and I am unable to find any research in this area. Any additional information you could find would be greatly appreciated and incorporated.

In general reading, it is difficult to differentiate between ethnobotanical information for Verbana urticifolia and Verbena officinalis as the latter has more historical documentation and sometimes modern writers don’t bother to differentiate between one species and another.

White Vervain Magick

As this is a Native American plant, it is not generally in the old herbals that assign correspondences. I am placing it tentatively in Venus and Air. Though I am going to experiment more before firming that up. There is something firey about it that doesn’t seem to belong among the Verbenas. But I’m not sure.