50 More Urban Species #25: Blue Vervain

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Blue (swamp) Vervain Verbena hastata

I find plants to be quite humbling. Occasionally I'll think that I have a firm grip on what plant species I can expect to find in Boston after having paid fairly close attention for the past 12 years. Then one summer day I'll see something I've never seen before and the vastness and variety of life smacks me in the face.

This "new to me" plant is blue vervain, also called swamp vervain, a native wildflower that grows in those occasionally wet places between bodies of water and dry habitats. Its flowers attract butterflies, and its seeds are eaten by finches. North American humans used the plant for a range of medicinal needs, much as Europeans used common vervain (Verbena officinalis).