1921] Pennell, — "Veronica" in North and South America 3 



family (as seen in most Gratioleae and Buchnereae) was certainly 

 covered with a simple reticulate testa, but among the" Veronicas" 

 this stage survives only in Veronicastrum and the European Paederota, 

 while Hebe has a flattened smooth "Veronica "-like seed. Veroni- 

 castrum is most readily distinguished by its well-developed corolla- 

 tube — a feature which comparison with the evolution of other 

 genera (such as Afzclia in the Buchnereae) makes me hold as primi- 

 tive. I believe that here, as in that genus, the open corolla is a phylo- 

 genetically recent development. The distribution of Veronicastrum 

 in eastern Asia and eastern North America, accords with that of many 

 another ancient race. Yet that it is not directly ancestral to the 

 other living groups is shown by its surprising peculiarity of bearing 

 its leaves in whorls. 



After thus excluding Hebe and Veronicastrum, our restricted group 

 of species has much more coherence. To it I apply the genus-name 

 Veronica. Very pronounced is the tendency to a drawing-out of 

 each carpel so as to produce a capsule flattened contrary to the sep- 

 tum, while loculicidal dehiscence has become universal. The cap- 

 sule tends to become short and bi-lobed. The seeds are flattened 

 and show no trace of reticulation. The corolla-lobes mostly equal 

 or exceed the tube. Progress has reached different apices of evolu- 

 tion in the subgenera to be called Veronicella and Euveronica. 



In Veronicella the stem as well as the branches terminates in an 

 indefinite racemose inflorescence, and in this it accords with nearly 

 all of its tribe and with all primitive types of Scrophulariaceae. The 

 flowers may be crowded together, even simulating the close inflor- 

 escence of Veronicastrum, or may be remote and so what we call 

 "axillary." Along with this generalized inflorescence we find much 

 diversity of other features. The capsule shows a series of stages 

 from relatively turgid and unnotched to strongly flattened or deeply 

 notched. Associated with the former state, the posterior sepal may 

 be present as smaller or rudimentary, while with the latter it is wholly 

 lost. The leaves, primitively opposite throughout Scrophulariaceae, 

 are always alternate through the inflorescence in Veronicella and 

 there is an increasing tendency for nearly all of them to be alternate. 

 From a comparison of various widely scattered genera, it seems 

 probable that in this family annuals have always been developed 

 from perennial ancestry. It is quite in accord with this to find in 

 Veronicella that the fifth sepal, unnotched capsule and opposite 



