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Nice blue blooms along skinny spikes of the butterfly and
hummingbird attractor, Stachytarpheta urticifolia
or Blue Porterweed
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Stachytarpheta Urticifolia
(Blue Porterweed,
Blue
Mouse's Tail,
Blue
Rat's Tail, False Vervain, Nettle-leaf Velvetberry) |
Synonym: Cymburus urticifolius
Family: Verbenaceae
Origin: Tropical America
Light: Full sun
Height: Up to 6'
Spread: 4'
Blooms: Small, dark blue on 1'-1.5' skinny spikes, summer to frost
Foiliage: Dark green, deeply serrated
Soil: Well-drained, drought tolerant when established
Water: Regular
Propagation: Seeds
Uses: Xeriscaping, back-of-the-border shrub
Caution: May be invasive
Comments: Stachytarpheta urticifolia or Blue Porterweed or Blue Mouse's Tail or Blue
Rat's Tail or False
Vervain or Nettle-leaf Velvtberry or Cymburus urticifolius is an attractive
low-sprawling, heat and salt-tolerant perennial subshrub. It self-sows
freely. Blue Porterweed is an excellent food source for bees, hummingbirds and butterflies
expecially Gulf Fritillary, Long-tailed Skippers, Sulphur, Swallowtails and Zebra.
Pretty blue flowers are borne along interesting rat tail- like spikes,
hence the name Rat's Tail. These spikes will be filled with seeds
when mature. Nettle-leaf Velvtberry blooms continuously from Summer to
frost. Protect Stachytarpheta urticifolia plant from freezing
weather. Nettle-leaf Velvtberry dies back in Winter and
return the following season. The leaves of Cymburus urticifolius has been used
traditionally as a herb by the indigenous people of the Amazon and women
of the West Indies and Jamaica to treat various ailments. There are also 2
other cultivars available for the Blue Mouse's Tail plant, one has red flowers and the other,
coral flowers.
Grown in masses, Nettle-leaf Velvetberry makes excellent
xeriscaping plants for the back border.
USDA Hardiness Zones : 8b-11 |
