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Stachytarpheta mutabilis

(Jacq.) Vahl (1804)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Asterids Order: Lamiales Family: Verbenaceae Genus: Stachytarpheta

changeable vervain

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Perennial herbs or subshrubs 10–20(–50) dm tall.

Stems: Stems stout, branched, densely tomentose or villous throughout.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite. Blades usually rather thick and chartaceous or somewhat leathery, 5–12 cm long, 2.5–6 cm wide, ovate to elliptic–oblong, sometimes lanceolate. Apex acute to acuminate. Base broadly cuneate to occasionally subcordate. Upper surfaces often rugose and sparsely villous to scaberulous; lower surfaces densely tomentose or villous. Margins crenate or serrate, the teeth angled forward. Petioles 1–2.3 cm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in terminal, indeterminate spikes, spikes stout, erect, 10–60 cm long, densely strigose or hirtellous, the furrows shallow; bracts lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 8–12 mm long, persistent. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Calyx somewhat compressed, 8–12 mm long, the teeth subequal, minute. Corolla showy, scarlet, crimson to rose or magenta, fading pink, occasionally purple, fading blue, the tube 13–18 mm long, imbricate. Stamens 2, included in corolla tube, staminodes 2; anthers dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits; anthers dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, 2-celled, placentation axile; ovules 1 per cell, attached laterally, erect, anatropous; style elongate, filiform; stigma terminal.

Fruit: Schizocarps dry; oblong–linear; splitting at maturity into 2 hard cocci; enclosed by the persistent calyx. Seeds 1 per fruit; linear.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range: 90–190 m.

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

Kaua'i Naturalized
O'ahu Only found in cultivation

Dispersal Agents

Water/Ocean

Pollinators

Notes

  • 90-190m
  • Description digitized by Ikaika Mendez
  • Description digitized from the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
  • Native to the Neotropics from Mexica to northern South America and the West Indies, widely naturalized elsewhere, commonly cultivated as fences or hedges; in Hawaiʻi naturalized along Powerline Trail, Hanalei Valley, Kauaʻi. Cultivated prior to 1871.

Bibliography

Name Published In: Enum. Pl. Obs. 1: 208 (1804)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:1322 (K); Staples & Herbst 2005:569 (DESCR)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Description Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Waimea Arboretum & Botanical Garden full sun Preserved_Specimen dense rounded shrub 1.5 m. Flowers a blend of dark pink, salmon, and orange red, with a white area at the center which is edged with magenta Lau, J. 2728 Oahu BISH 1986-08-11
2 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Hanalei Valley roadsides Preserved_Specimen Degener, O. 21485 Kauai BISH 1951-12-29
3 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Power line trail, Kalihikai, Hanalei along jeep raod; second growth vegetation Preserved_Specimen plant 1-2 m; flowers with brick-red limb, magenta ring, and white tube; half again as large as the blue-flowered species Stone, B.C. 807 Kauai BISH 1955-06-16
4 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Power Line Trail, Kalihikai weed by grassy roadside Preserved_Specimen 1-2 m tall; corolla limb brick red, the tube without and the eye magenta, the tube within whitish St.John, H. 25540 Kauai BISH 1955-06-17
5 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Foster Botanic Garden potted; full sun Preserved_Specimen sparsely-branched, with branches ascending; 1 m tall. The color of the flower is coral with white within and at the mouth of the corolla tuve, the white being edged with magenta. The flower becomes more whitish with age; odorless (morning) Lau, J. 1415 Oahu BISH 1985-09-12
6 Stachytarpheta mutabilis in pasture at Hanalei end of the Pole Line Trail Preserved_Specimen shrub to 5' . Flowers red fading to pink or purple fading to blue. Herbst, D.R. 5300 Kauai BISH 1975-05-15
7 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Hanalei Preserved_Specimen pink flowers; very tall, robust plant (like ones growing in Wau, PNG) Gagné, B.H. 3044 Kauai BISH 1991-04-07
8 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Hanalei Valley Preserved_Specimen Corollas purplish red. Wagner, W.L. 5705 Kauai BISH 1986-11-01
9 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Hanalei Valley Preserved_Specimen Corollas rose. Wagner, W.L. 5704 Kauai BISH 1986-11-01
10 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Hanalei District, Hanalei Valley along Hwy 56 between Hanalei River and Princeville Secondary vegetation with Psidium, Setaria, and Caesalpinia. Preserved_Specimen Large herb of 6 ft.; leaves rugose, dark dull green above, grey-green below with pale green raised veins; corolla pink, throat whitish, tube pale pink. Flynn, T.W. 6170 Kauai BISH 1997-06-06
11 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Between Hanalei and Kilauea roadside Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 459 Kauai BISH 1931-09-01
12 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Hanalei Valley, N wall, near sea Preserved_Specimen shrub 2 m; fls. lavender pink Bryan Jr., E.H. 625 Kauai BISH 1928-08-06
13 Stachytarpheta mutabilis Wahiawa Botanical Gardens Preserved_Specimen shrub to 2.5m. Leaves thick, hairy, yellow-green above; light yellow-green below. Inflorscence a terminal spike to 50cm. Flowers bright pink Teraoka, W. 311 Oahu BISH 1980-07-03
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