Verbena officinalis var. africana (R. Fern. & Verdc.) Munir

Erect perennial, rarely annual herb, 60-150 cm tall. Leaves up to 10 × 8 cm, ovate in outline, deeply pinnatifidly lobed, roughly hairy above, more softly hairy below; margin of the ultimate segments dentate. Leaves higher up the stems often linear lanceolate; margin sparsely toothed or subentire. Flowers in numerous terminal spikes, elongating up to 26 cm, most parts glandular hairy. Corolla lilac, mauve, magenta, purple, violet or blue, hairless. Fruits c. 2 mm long, 3-4-striate, minutely tuberculate.

From Ethiopia on the eastern side of tropical Africa to S Africa as far as KwaZulu-Natal. Possibly also elsewhere in Africa. Also in Nepal and Taiwan.