632 VELLA VERONICA 



June. It is an interesting but not very showy shrub. Propagated by 

 cut tings of young wood. The bristles on the stems and leaves are much 

 more numerous and conspicuous in wild plants. 



VERONICA. SPEEDWELL. SCROPHULARIACE^. 



The greater part of the genus Veronica consists of herbaceous plants. 

 Of those that have a claim to mention in this work all are natives of New 

 /ealaml, ami vuth tlu- exception of Y. elliptic, which is found also in 

 S. America, they belong exclusively to New Zealand. In the Manual of 

 the New Zealand Flora (1906), Mr Cheeseman enumerates about seventy 

 woody species, ranging from small trees to dwarf shrubs, all evergreen. 

 V. PARVIFLORA, Vahl (V. arborea, Buchanan\ is sometimes a tree 25 ft. 

 high, with a trunk 2 to 3 ft. in diameter. They have opposite, mostly 

 stout or leathery leaves, usually superposed in four vertical rows, but in 

 a few species, like cupressoides and Hectori, the leaves are tiny, scale- 

 like, and more or less appressed to the stem, as in cypresses. The older 

 parts of the stems are conspicuously ringed with the scars of fallen leaves. 

 The growth of these veronicas, except in a few, is continuous, that is 

 to say, no terminal bud is formed at the end of the growing season. 

 Flowers crowded in usually axillary, sometimes terminal panicles, racemes, 

 or spikes, and produced near the ends of the growing shoots. The 

 individual flowers are very much alike in all the following species except 

 in colour. The calyx has four sepals, and the corolla (usually about ] in. 

 across) consists of a tubular base expanding at the mouth into four more 

 or less spreading lobes. Stamens two, the stalks attached to the top of 

 the corolla tube. Seed-vessel a two-celled, often flattened capsule. 



These New Zealand veronicas are of the easiest cultivation, provided 

 the climate is not too severe for them. They can be very readily 

 increased by means of young wood puttings, and thrive in a sandy loam. 

 Unfortunately, very few of them are sufficiently hardy to withstand 

 our severest winters. The hardiest are anomala, buxifolia, carnosula, 

 cupressoides, Danvinii, Hectori, and Traversii. Most of them flower 

 from May onwards. 



The species hybridise freely, and some of the most ornamental kinds 

 are of hybrid origin. The majority of these hybrids, however, are of the 

 more tender class, and should really be classed as cool greenhouse plants, 

 except in the south-western counties. All the sorts appear to thrive well 

 in maritime districts. The Edinburgh Botanic Garden contains a fine 

 collection, and several survived the winter of 1894-5 there that succumbed 



,,-w. 



The following descriptions are mostly checked by those of Mr 

 Cheeseman in his valuable^ Manual above mentioned. But it is 

 difficult to distinguish with certainty many of the species in cultivation, 

 owing to the different aspects the plants assume at different stages of 

 their career, and to the differences that arise from the changed environ- 

 ment of plants under cultivation. The^ difficulty is further increased by 

 the shy-flowering character of several. 



