verbena

[Latin verbenæ =sacred boughs; verbenaca vervain.] Bot.: Vervain; the typical genus of Verbena cee (q. v.). Herbs or undershrubs with four-sided stems, opposite or ternate leaves, simple, pinnatifid, or three-partite. Flowers in terminal spikes or racemes. Calyx tubular, the limb with five teeth, one usually shorter than the rest. Corolla tubular, the limb not quite regular, five-cleft. Stamens included, four didynamous, rarely two. Ovary with four cells, each one-seeded. Capsule dividing into four one-seeded achenes. Known species seventy, chiefly from America. Popularly the name is used in a wider sense than the scientific_genus; as the Lemon-scented Verbena . [ALOYSIA.] ver-be-nā-çě-æ, s. pl. [Mod. Latin verben ( a ); Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff. -aceӕ.] Bot.: Verbenes; an order of Perigynous Exogens, alliance Echiales. Trees, shrubs, or herbs. Leaves generally opposite, simple or compound, without stipules. Flowers in opposite corymbs, or spiked alternately, or in dense heads, or rarely axillary and solitary. Calyx tubular, persistent, inferior, Corolla hypogynous, monopetalous, tubular, deciduous, the limb generally irregular. Stamens generally four, didynamous, or of equal length, rarely two. Style one; stigma bifid or undivided; ovary two or four celled; fruit nucamentaceous or berried, composed of two or four nucules in a state of adhesion. Closely akin to Labiate, but the ovary is not four-lobed, nor is there the aromatic smoll. The species are found chiefly in the tropics, and in South America beyond them. In hot countries they are generally shrubs or trees, in temperate climates they are mostly herbs. Known genera forty-five, species 663 ( Lindley ); genera forty, species 550 ( Sir J. Hooker ). ver-bě-nāte, v . t . [Latin ver ben at us =adorned with a garland of verbena (q. v.).] To strew or sanctify with sacred boughs according to an ancient custom. IMG:content-0458.png:[blocks in formation] ver-bōse'-ne , s. [VERBOSITY.J ver-bos-i-ty, *ver-bose-ne , *ver-bos-i-tie, subst. [Eng. verbose ; -ity, -ne .] The quality or state of being verbose; use of a multiplicity or superabundance of words; wordine , prolixity; tediousne by multiplicity of words; verbiage "The one of these he carped, as a man of no witte and uerie meane learning: the other, for his verbositie and negligence in penning his historie." -P. Holland : Plu tarch , p. 139. *věrd, s . [Fr., from Lat. virid is =green.] 1. Ord . Lang .: Greenne , verdancy, freshne . "Like an apothecaries potion, or new ale, they have their best strength and verd at the first."- Declaration of Popish Impostures. (1603.) 2. Old Law: The same as VERT (q. v.). ver-dan-çỹ, s. [Eng verd an ( t ); -cy.] 1. Lit .: The quality or state of being verdant or green; greenne . 2. Fig .: Rawne , inexperience, greenne , in no cence. "Forget his verdancy and grotesque appearance."_ Scribner's Magazine , Oct., 1878, p. 790.