Common vervain
Verbena officinalis L.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 75 cm
- wide
- 30 cm
Verbenaceae
Also called Simpler's-joy, European Verbena, Herb of the cross, Vervain
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- PerennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Old World to AustraliaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from RHS, one source
- Height
- 51 cm to 99 cmRead from RHS, one source
- Spread
- 10 cm to 51 cmRead from RHS, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from RHS, one source
- Flowers
- PurpleRead from RHS, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -15 °C (USDA zone 7b)Read from RHS, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Dutch
- IJzerhard, ijzerhard, Ijzerhard
- German
- Echtes Eisenkraut, Eisenkraut
- Portuguese
- Verbena-comum
- Italian
- Verbena comune
- Hebrew
- ורבנה רפואית
- French
- Verveine officinale, Verveine sauvage, Herbe aux sorcières
- Catalan
- Berbena
- Czech
- sporýš lékařský
- Japanese
- クマツヅラ, 熊葛
- Greek
- Βερβένα η φαρμακευτική
- Chinese
- 馬鞭草, 鐵馬鞭, 土马鞭;风须草
- Danish
- Læge-jernurt
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 2.5
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Verbena officinalis (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.