Blue Vervain

Verbena hastata

Pollinator Value

🐝 Specialist Bee Host: Calliopsis nebraskensis
S17 Calliopsis (Verbenapis) nebraskensis, specialist on Verbena
❄️ Winter Food Source: Persistent seed spikes provide winter forage for songbirds including Cardinal, Swamp Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and Slate-Colored Junco. Seeds pass undamaged through avian digestive tracts, aiding bird-mediated dispersal.
S10 songbird seed consumers; S57 California Quail

Proximity Score: 0
Native Status: ✅ Outaouais ✅ Ottawa ✅ QC ✅ ON
Closest Direction: Local
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield, 5.2.3 – Algonquin/Southern Laurentians
Rarity Notes: Secure across Ontario (S5) and Apparently Secure in Quebec (S4). Globally ranked G5. Not listed under SARA or COSEWIC. Widespread and common throughout eastern North America.
S22 G5, S5-ON, S4-QC; S26 not SARA listed
Rarity Ranks: QC S4 – Apparently Secure, ON S5 – Secure
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: A characteristic species of wet meadows, marshes, stream banks, and floodplain openings throughout the Ottawa-Gatineau region. Commonly found in moist prairies, damp thickets, ditches, and along lake and river shores. Adapts readily to degraded wetlands and disturbed moist ground, but also occurs in higher-quality habitats.
S10 habitat description; S7 marshes, ditches, wet shores; S63 Common both sides

Roles: Fortress/Barrier, Insectary Plant, Pollinator Attractor
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Fortress/Barrier: S61 keyword match: thorns? (supporting signal only)] | Insectary Plant: S64 NPPBI 'beneficial insects' flag] | Pollinator Attractor: S73 [HIGH]: S64 Xerces listed (source-classified)]
Notes: Excellent insectary plant for pollinator gardens and rain gardens. Attracts a wide diversity of bees (including specialist Calliopsis nebraskensis), butterflies, Syrphid flies, and beneficial wasps. Deer-resistant and suitable for wet meadow or shoreline guild plantings alongside other moisture-loving natives.
S10 diverse pollinator visitors; S64 NPPBI beneficial insects; S46 not aggressive in prairie

Category: Antiperiodic, Diaphoretic, Emetic, Expectorant, Tonic, Vermifuge, Vulnerary
S29 PFAF medicinal categories; S28 Moerman 27 Drug + 4 Medicine uses
Notes: Extensively used by Cherokee, Iroquois, Chippewa, Dakota, Menominee, and other Indigenous peoples. Roots and leaves used as antiperiodic, diaphoretic, emetic, and tonic. Cherokee used it for fevers, colds, coughs, stomach complaints, and as a general tonic. Iroquois applied root poultices to cool the head and used leaf infusions as witchcraft medicine. Chippewa used dried flower snuff for nosebleeds. Contains the iridoid glycosides verbenalin and hastatoside.
S28 29 ethnobotanical uses across 8 peoples; S29 medicinal properties; S31 verbenalin, hastatoside

✅ Edible

Foraging Notes: Seeds were roasted and ground into flour or used whole as pinole by the Concow people; the flour is pleasantly bitter, with some bitterness removable by leaching. Leaves were steeped as a tea substitute by the Omaha.
S29 seed pinole, tea substitute; S28 Concow pinole, Omaha tea