VERBENACEAE

(VERBENA
FAMILY)
 SYSTEMATIC POSITION

• CLASS : DICOTYLEDONS
• SUBCLASS : GAMOPETALAE
• SERIES : BICARPELLATAE
• ORDER : LAMIALES
• FAMILY : VERBENACEAE
INTRODUCTION
• A family of about 99 genera and 3151 species
(Radford, 1986), distributed chiefly in tropics and
subtropics.
• About 22 genera and over 30 species have been
reported from India.
DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS
• Plants herbs, shrubs or trees
• leaves simple, exstipulate, opposite or whorled
• inflorescence cymose, racemose or spike
• flowers hermaphrodite, zygomorphic, hypogynous
• calyx gamosepalous, persistent; corolla 5 lobed,
gamopetalous sometimes 2 lipped
• stamens four, didynamous, epipetalous
• carpels two, syncarpous, superior, axile placentation
• fruit drupe.
 Common plants
• Avicennia alba Callicarpa arborea
…Common plants
• Clerodendron inerme Duranta repens
…Common plants
• Lantana indica Tectona grandis
 …Common plants
• Verbena officinalis Vitex negundo Petrea volubilis
…Common plants
Stachytarpheta indica Gmelina arborea
 HABIT
• Herbs, shrubs (Lantana) or trees (Tectona); often lianas
(Clerodendrum, Vitex), sometimes of a xerophytic
nature (several species of Verbena); a few are mangrove
shrubs (Avicennia).
 ROOT, STEM & LEAVES
• ROOTS –Tap root, deep, branched.
• STEM – Herbaceous or woody, twining or sprawling in
climbers; often quadrangular.
• LEAVES – Usually simple, sometimes palmately (Vitex)
compound; usually opposite, rarely alternate or
whorled; exstipulate; highly reduced in xerophytic
species (Verbena).
INFLORESCENCE
• Racemose raceme (Duranta), or umbel (Lantana) or a spike;
often with an involucre of coloured bracts; or consisting of
dichotomous cymes, or panicled cymes (Tectona).
FLOWERS
• Bracteate, often bracteolate (Duranta,
Lantana), complete, hermaphrodite,
zygomorphic, pentamerous, hypogynous.
CALYX
• Usually 5 united sepals, persistent; usually lobed
or toothed; valvate; rarely the sepals are 4, 6 or 8;
sometimes coloured.
COROLLA
• Usually 5 united petals, or as many petals as
sepals; often bilipped with a narrow tube; rarely
campanulate; typically lobed with the lobes
generally unequal, usually imbricate.
ANDROECIUM
• Usually 4 stamens, didynamous, epipetalous, alternate
with the corolla lobes; anthers dithecous, introrse;
longitudinally dehiscent; posterior stamen is generally
missing or present in the form of staminode; in Tectona
all the 5 stamens are fertile.
 GYNOECIUM

• Usually bicarpellary, syncarpous; ovary superior; originally

bilocular but divided into 4 locules by the formation of false
septum in each locule; 2 ovules in each carpel
• Ovules anatropous to orthotropous;
• Style terminal; stigma lobes usually as many as carpels;
• Rarely carpels are 4 (Duranta)
• Ovary is unilocular with free-central placentation in Avicennia;
• in Clerodendrum and Verbena the ovary is unilocular with
parietal placentation when young but on maturity the placentae
unite at the centre and the placentation becomes axile
 FRUITS
• Fruit is generally a
drupe, and rarely a
capsule (eg. Avicennia),
berry, or schizocarp
(nutlets) eg. Verbena .
 SEEDS
Seeds non-endospermic with straight embryo.
 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
Timber:
• The wood of Tectona grandis (Teak) is extremely hard and
lasting. The wood is largely used in manufacturing of ships
and good quality furniture. Teak is grown in forests of
Burma, Madhya Pradesh and Assam.
• The wood of Gmelina arborea is used in making drums,
sitars and other musical instruments.
Medicinal:
• The roots of Clerodendron are used in asthma and cough.
• The decoction of leaves of Lantana camara is given in
tetanus and rheumatism.
• The leave’s juice of Gmelina arborea is used in
gonorrhoea, cough and ulcers.
Oils:
• Lippia alba produces a valuable oil.
Tanning:
• The bark of Avicennia is used in tanning.
Febrifuge:
• The leaves of Vitex negundo serve as
febrifuge. The branches of this plant are kept
over stored grains to keep off insects.
Ornamental:

•Lantana, Verbena officinalis,

Duranta, Congea tomentosa,
Callicarpa, Clerodendron, Petrea
are cultivated in gardens.
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