Erect, loosely hairy stems to 3-feet tall branch from the base and are tipped with slender spikes with small, lavender-blue, bilaterally-symmetrical flowers. Note the spike is leafless and has inconspicuous floral bracts.

FLOWERS: March–October. Loosely flowering spike with alternating flowers about 1/8-inch long (4 mm) and spreading 3/16–3/8-inch wide (4–8 mm); upper lip with 2 lobes, lower lip with 3 lobes; throat white and densely hairy.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blades oblong, 3/4–2-inches long (2–5 cm), margins with 3–5 deep teeth or lobes; surfaces hairy.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, roadsides, disturbed areas, canyons, foothills; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine-Douglas fir woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,300–8,2500 feet.

RANGE: NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Several taxa, including V. hirtella, are often lumped as varieties of V. neomexicana or listed as separate species. When considered  separate species, V. neomexicana has leaves with deep lobes with coarse teeth; Hillside Vervain, V. hirtella, has long and narrow leaves with coarsely-toothed edges.  Big-bract Verbena, Verbena bracteata, statewide, has trailing stems and spikes with leaf-like bracts. Slender Vervain, V. perennis, in se NM, has nearly hairless stems and leaves with entire margins.

NM COUNTIES: Southern NM in low-elevation habitats: Catron, Chaves, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Sierra, Socorro.