VERONICA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



V. LAVAUDIANA is a Small prostrate shrub 

 al)out 8 in. high, with stout trailing branches 

 set with glossy pink-edged leaves, and bearing 

 large white, rosy, or purple flowers in May. 

 It is charming in the rock-garden, of rather slow 

 growth, and perishes in a hard winter. Near 

 this is V. Raoii/i, a dense shrub of taller and 

 more erect growth, with narrower leaves also 

 red at the margin, and abundant mauve 

 coloured flowers. 



V. Lewisii. — A large leafy shrub, flowering 

 freely from the end of May, and like so many 

 other kinds, an excellent seaside plant. 



V. LiNDSAYi is a pretty hybrid raised by 

 Mr. Lindsay of Murrayfield, Edinburgh, 

 bearing erect grey-green shoots, ringed round 

 at regular intervals, set with tiny scale-like 

 leaves in four equal and opposite rows, and 

 tipped with clusters of lilac flowers. 



V. LOGANIOIDES belongs to the class of 

 alpine conifer-like Veronicas, though the tiny 

 leaves hug the stems less closely than in other 

 kinds, and the clustered white flowers are so 

 abundant in a good season as to hide all 

 else. 



V. Lyallii is a slender trailing shrub of 

 dense habit, less than a foot high, and rooting 

 where the stems touch the soil. These are 

 closely set with firm leathery leaves, variable 

 as to shape and size, with serrate edges and 

 more or less pointed. The flower-stalks start 

 from every leaf-axil, bearing lax sprays of 

 rather large pale mauve flowers, prettily veined. 

 It is one of the most constant in flower, and 

 ripens seed freely. 



V. LYCOPODIOIDES. — Atiny creeping shrub 

 hardly risinjj above the ground, its angular 

 sterns sheeted in dark green scale-like leaves, 

 and like a club moss. It fails in the south, 

 but is a pretty rock-plant for North Britain, 

 flowering freely in a good year. 



V. MACRANTHA bears the largest flowers, 

 and is one of the most beautiful of the group, 

 covering large tracts of its native mountains 

 at an elevation of 3,000 to 6,000 ft. It is a 

 rigid little shrub about 2 ft. high, with bright 

 green leaves toothed at the edges, and many 

 pure white flowers an inch across. 



V. PiMEi^EOiDES is a neat little shrub of 

 about a foot, with small oval grey-green leaves 

 with red edges, and reddish-purple spikes of 

 flower. This is a variable kind with several 

 distinct forms, that called minor being of 

 trailing habit. 



V. PiNGUiFOLiA.— Of dense growth, it 

 nestles happily amongst rock-garden plants, 

 its intense glaucous colour effective. The 

 white flowers with purple stamens are borne 

 in crowded spikes and never fail to appear in 

 early summer. This kind and its immediate 

 allies are among the hardiest of shrubby 

 Veronicas. F. decumbens comes near this, 

 and is of prostrate habit with black polished 

 stems, bright green instead of glaucous 

 leaves, and larger flowers with rosy anthers. 



V. SALICIFOLIA is a fast-growing shrub of 

 graceful habit, with narrow glossy leaves 2 to 

 6 in. long, and bluish purple or white flowers 



in slender tapering spikes. It is not only most 

 variable as a species, with many wild forms, 

 but has been crossed freely with other kinds. 

 Vs. macrocarpa and parvijlora come so near 

 this as to seem only extreme forms of it. The 

 variety with pure white flowers is the best, 

 and one of the most charming of seaside 

 shrubs, tender inland. 



V. SPECIOSA. — The best known of shrubby 

 Veronicas, of rapid growth, \\ith leafy stems, 

 a freely branching habit, and showy mauve or 

 purple flowers fading to white. The early 

 forms with their crude culonv^ are now rejilaced 



^ 



Veronica pinguifolia. 



by named varieties due to crossing and 

 selection, and among the most beautiful and 

 easily grown of flowering shrubs for autumn 

 and winter. 



V. Traversi. — One of the hardiest of the 

 group, often resisting for years even in cold 

 midland gardens. Its regular leaves and 

 rounded outline are not graceful, but as a town 

 shrub and one that thrives well on chalk, it 

 has some merits and is useful for cutting in 

 winter. In a good season old plants flower 

 freely, and are then attractive. It is easily 

 increased and often sows itself. A variety 

 rohiista is of more rigid habit and bears leaves 

 of a paler green. V. Balfotiriana is a smaller 

 shrub, with smaller brown-edged leaves and 

 longer spikes of larger flowers. 



V. VERNicosA. — A low loose-growing little 

 shrub, with small red-edged leaves shining as 

 though varnished; and crowded spikes of 

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