Aloysia Palau (1784), in the family Verbenaceae, contains around 37 species in America. Description Shrubs to 5m, but usually less. The leaves are in whorls of 4, deciduous or evergreen, rough to the touch, sometimes hairy. The flowers are small, pale purple, pink, or white, short-tubed, sometimes scented, in upright, branched spikes. Sepals 2–4, forming a toothed calyx. Petals 4, about equalling the tube in length. Stamens 4, slightly exserted from the flower. Ovary superior, 2-celled, with 1 ovule per cell; style 1, simple, slender. Pollination is by insects. The fruits are pairs of small nutlets.
Key Recognition Features The tubular, purple or red flowers around 5cm long with a bell-shaped calyx. Evolution and Relationships The families Verbenaceae and Labiatae are closely related, and recently many genera formerly in Verbenaceae, including Clerodendrum and Callicarpa, have been transfered to Labiatae. Aloysia was formerly included in the much larger genus Lippia L.. Ecology and Geography In dry, rocky places and scrub from Texas and California southwards and along the Andes to Argentina and Chile. Comment The lemon verbena, A. citriodora Palau, often called A. triphylla (L’Herit.) Britt. or Lippia citriodora (Palau) Kunth, is commonly grown for its scented leaves, which may be brewed into a sedative tea; in the Andes of northwestern Argentina, where the species is frequent, both lemon-scented and anise-scented plants grow together. |
