Glandularia gooddingii (Southwestern Mock Vervain)

Glandularia gooddingii

Glandularia gooddingii (Briq.) Solbrig

Verbena arizonica Briq.

Verbena gooddingii Briq.

Verbena gooddingii Briq. var. nepetifolia Tidestr.

Verbena verna A. Nelson

Verbena verna A. Nelson var. fissa A. Nelson

Southwestern Mock Vervain, Goodding’s Verbena

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Lamiales	Aromatic herbs and shrubs, including lavender, lilac, olive, jasmine, ash, teak, snapdragon, sesame, psyllium, garden sage, mint, basil, and rosemary
Family	Verbenaceae	Verbena (vervain) family, about 3,000 species
Genus	Glandularia	According to Umberto Quattrocchi, this is from the Latin glandulae, “a little acorn, tonsils”
Species	gooddingii	After Leslie Newton Goodding (1880-1967), botanist and collector, one of the first to explore the southern Arizona area, who as a student journeyed to Yellowstone National Park to collect there and in the Montana/Idaho/Tetons area with Dr. Aven Nelson, founder of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium of the University of Wyoming. He discovered the rare Goodding’s ash, and had other plants named after him

About plant names...

Southwestern mock vervain is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It prefers sandy or rocky habitats, such as dry sandy slopes, mesas, canyons, or roadsides, at elevations of 2100-5100' (640-1554 m).

Plants: Several hairy, erect or decumbent stems 4-18" (10-45 cm) long emerge from a common base. Stems are square in cross-section. The species often forms low mats.

Leaves: Hairy, opposite, ⅜-1½" (1-4 cm), divided into 3 to 5 lobed, toothed leaflets.

Flowers: Rounded blooms contain many flowers. Buds are dark purple, while flowers are pink-purple and aging flowers turn blue. Each flower is tubular, with five notched petals, and is up to ½" (1.4 cm) long. Flowers appear from April to June, sometimes over a longer period, depending upon moisture.

Fruits: Nutlets are gray to brown, ¹/₁₆-⅛" (2-3 mm) in size, 5-toothed and 5-ribbed, each containing a single seed.

Online References:

Glandularia gooddingii at Southeastern Arizona Wildflowers and the Plants of the Sonoran Desert

Glandularia gooddingii on www.americansouthwest.net

Glandularia gooddingii at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Glandularia gooddingii on

Glandularia gooddingii on Wikimedia Commons (photos)

Glandularia gooddingii from the Jepson Manual

Glandularia gooddingii description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.