Hoary Vervain’s floral spikes bloom from the bottom up. Livestock will not eat Verbena so it may be thought of as “weedy” by some who observe it in a pasture setting. In a natural prairie it is not aggressive. In fact, it is a rather short-lived perennial that will not compete well with more aggressive vegetation. It self-seeds readily and is very easy to germinate, so it is a common component of many drier prairie seed mixes. The seeds are a staple for many small mammals and birds that depend on this widely-distributed plant. The gray-green leaves are fuzzy on both sides and are the larval host for the
