The Verbenaceae are herbs, lianas, shrubs, or trees comprising about 36 genera and 1,035 species that are further characterized by the common occurrence of quadrangular twigs and/or aromatic herbage. The leaves are nearly always opposite or whorled, mostly simple; stipules are lacking. The flowers are nearly always bisexual and zygomorphic, forming racemes, spikes, or heads. The calyx is synsepalous and most commonly 5-merous. The corolla is sympetalous, usually unequally 5-lobed, and often weakly 2-lipped. The androecium most commonly consists of 4 didynamous stamens adnate to the corolla tube or perigynous zone, alternate with the lobes. The gynoecium consists of a single compound pistil of nearly always 2 carpels and an unlobed or shallowly lobed ovary, usually with 4 locules (by false septation), each with a single axile ovule. The style is terminal and uncleft, bearing a conspicuous, usually bilobed stigma. A weakly developed annular nectary disk occurs around the base of the ovary in many species. The fruit is usually a drupe with 2 or 4 pits or a schizocarp splitting into 2 or 4 nutlets.
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