1887-88.] Mr R. Lindsay on Heterophylly in Veronicas. 243 



of flowers, it was somewhat difficult to convince those who 

 were inclined to be sceptical. Various means were therefore 

 adopted to induce the plant to flower, but it remained obsti- 

 nate. A plant which I received from Mr Henry was placed 

 near the glass in a stove, with the view of trying to force it 

 to flower. Very soon it began to alter in appearance, and ulti- 

 mately it produced, not flowers, but leaves of a kind which 

 showed that the plant was really a Veronica. The plant after- 

 wards flowered, though sparingly, first at Easter Duddingston 

 Lodge, in 1885, and in the following year at Hay Lodge 

 (after Mr Henry's death), and also in the Garden here. This 

 circumstance led me to experiment upon other allied species 

 which we had under culture, with the remarkable result that, 

 when treated in a similar manner, each species produced 

 leaves quite distinct both from the normal type and from 

 each other. Mr N. E. Brown of Kew, in an article which 

 appeared in the Gardeners Clm^onicle in January last, has 

 shown conclusively that the plant grown in gardens as 

 Veronica salicornioides is not the true plant of that name, as 

 it does not agree with the type-specimen in the Kew Her- 

 barium, a portion of which plant he figures. Being under 

 the impression that the so-called V. salicornioides is a very 

 variable plant, Mr Brown has given it the name of V. cupres- 

 soides var. variabilis. Eor our present purpose, however, it 

 will be more convenient to distinguish it by the better known 

 though erroneous name. In cultivation, V. salicornioides of 

 gardens forms a dense low-growing bush. Our largest plants 

 have never exceeded 10 inches in height, and are at present 

 from 2 to 3 feet in diameter, but appear as if they would 

 become more widely spread. In the adult condition the 

 leaves closely resemble those of a Cupressus, and are yellowish- 

 green in colour. The whole plant, indeed, has a fine golden 

 appearance, which it retains throughout the year, but this hue 

 is rather more pronounced in spring. The flowers are white, 

 with pink anthers. When a plant of this species is put into 

 heat, or becomes weakened by any other means, the leaves 

 then produced are entirely different from the normal form. 

 They become expanded into flat blades, usually entire, but 

 often lobed ; a three-lobed leaf appears to be the limit which 

 this species is capable of producing. I regard this as being 

 a reversion to the juvenile condition of the plant. In the 



