VERONICA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



VERONICA. 



767 



slow growth, and perishes in a hard 

 winter. 



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. LYALLI.- 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. A tiny creeping 

 shrub hardly rising above the ground, its 

 angular stems sheeted in dark green 

 scale-like leaves, and like a club moss. 

 It fails in the south, but is a pretty rock 

 plant for N. 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 3000 

 to 6000 feet. It is a rigid little shrub 

 about 2 feet high, with bright green leaves 

 toothed at the edges and many pure white 

 flowers an inch across. 



V. PINGUIFOLIA. Of dense growth, it 

 nestles happily amongst rock garden 

 plants, its intense glaucous colour effec- 

 tive. 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. 

 V. 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. A fast-growing shrub 

 of graceful habit, with narrow glossy leaves 

 2 to 6 inches 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 parviflora 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, with 

 leafy stems, a freely branching habit, and 

 showy mauve or purple flowers fading to 

 white. The early forms, with their crude 

 colours, are now replaced 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, 

 but never quite liking the shrub I got rid 

 of it. 



Veronica pinguifolia. 



NAMED HYBRIDS. All these have 

 come from three or four kinds Salici- 

 folia, elliptica, speciosa crossed, re- 

 crossed, and selected, until the precise 

 parentage has been lost. V. Ander- 

 soni was one of the earliest, and other 

 old kinds are Blue Gem, an old 

 favourite of compact growth and 

 nearly always in bloom ; Celestial, 

 light blue ; Imperial, crimson-purple ; 

 Jardin Fleuri, deep carmine ; Mme. 

 Chretien Merveille, purple ; Marie 

 Antoinette, pink ; Purple Queen, rich 

 purple, the flowers slightly fragrant ; 

 Reine des Bleues, deep blue ; and Ville 

 de Hyeres, a very hardy kind with 

 crimson flowers. There are other kinds 

 with variegated foliage, beside the 

 yellow-leaved form of V. Andersoni, 

 the best being Arc-en-ciel, with striped 

 foliage and deep red flowers ; and 

 Silver Star, a neat dwarf shrub in 

 which the leaves pass from yellow to 



