About Verbena canescens Kunth
The specific epithet canescens in the binomial name Verbena canescens refers to the fine, grayish-white hairs (called canescence) that cover the plant’s green tissues. This species is an herbaceous plant that grows to around 16 inches (approximately 40 centimeters) tall. Its stems have a squarish cross-section, rather than being round. The leaves are longer than they are wide, and their edges are cut with large teeth or shallow lobes. Multiple pinkish-purple to blue flowers grow at the tips of stems, and each flower has a leaf-like bract below it that is sometimes deeply lobed. The flower corollas have zygomorphic, somewhat bisymmetrical, floral symmetry. In the United States, Verbena canescens occurs primarily in central and southern Texas, and has been found introduced occasionally in other warmer parts of the country. This distribution pattern is visible on the map of research-grade observations for the species on its iNaturalist species page. That same map also shows that Verbena canescens grows across the interior highlands of Mexico, the Mexican Plateau. In Texas, Verbena canescens grows in canyons and foothills at elevations between 2,000 and 6,000 feet. In Mexico, it has been documented in highland grasslands and scrublands.
