Verbena stricta

Native American Names

The Omaha name for this plant is "peaheⁿmakin" which means for medicine. The Dakota name for it is "chaⁿhaloga pe^zhuta," which means medicine also. There are no other Indian names that coupld be found for Hoary Vervain.

Description Hoary Vervain has blue or purple to rosy-pink or violet flowers on top. The leaves look opposite, the blades are simple, and the upper parts of the leaves are wrinkled. It's a perennial plant. It's a forb plant. This plant is native to this country. It flowers from May to September. It lasts about 1 1/2 months. The flowers have both male and female organs.  They are pollinated by bees, flies, moths, and butterflies. The plant is self-fertile. This plant is somewhat weedy-looking, because of the distinctive spikes of flowers and hairy stems and leaves. So it should be easy to identify.

Location and Habitat It could be found throughout Nebraska, on overgrazed rangeland, pastures, roadsides, old fields, and waste areas. It's rarely found in croplands. The only place it was found here was at Senior Circle. Sometimes, every once in a while it was found at the pow-wow grounds, but this year it was found only at the Senior Circle. Its habitat is grassy, dry, and wet. They range from Ontario and Ohio to South Dakota and Wyoming, south to Tennessee and Texas. They can be found along roadsides and other open dry places.

Uses Back in the day they used it to make tea. It was also used for medicine for fever and ague. An infusion of the leaves has been used in the treatment of stomach aches. I couldn't find anything to cook with this plant.

This Page was last update: Friday, December 14, 2007 at 10:49:28 AM
This page was originally posted: 11/20/07; 10:25:18 AM.
Copyright 2008 Plants of the Omaha Indian Reservation

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