3448 



VERNONIA 



VERONICA 



V. ArechataUtse, Andr6. Glabrous shrub, 3-6 ft. high: Ivs. ses- 

 sile, leathery, linear-lanceolate: fl.-heads reddish violet. Uruguay. 

 V. gigantea, Hort. Robust: fl.-heads in panicles, carmine or 

 violet-rose. F W BARCLAY. 



N. TAYLOR, f 



VERONICA (named in honor of St. Veronica). 

 Scrophulariaceae. SPEEDWELL. Annual and perennial 

 herbs, shrubs, or rarely trees, one group of which, mainly 

 European and American species, are hardy in the North, 

 the other group, New Zealand species, are hardy in 

 California and similar climates and are also somewhat 

 used as greenhouse plants. 



Leaves opposite, rarely whorled or rather few; cauline 

 Ivs. very rarely alternate; floral Ivs. always alternate: 

 fls. disposed in terminal or axillary bracteate racemes, or 

 rarely solitary in the axils of alternate Ivs., blue, purple, 

 flesh-colored, or white, never yellow; calyx 4-5-parted, 

 very rarely 3-parted; corolla-tube short, usually very 

 short, limb spreading, 4-5-cleft; stamens 2: caps, com- 

 pressed or turgid, 2-grooved, loculicidally dehiscent, 

 usually obtuse or emarginate. About 300 species, 

 mostly natives of the temperate and colder regions, a 

 few in the tropics. Veronica was monographed by 

 Bentham in DC. Prod. 10:458-491 (1846), 158 species 

 being then known. About 200 species are now known, 

 very widely distributed. 



All are showy free-flowering plants, used, except the 

 shrubs, as garden perennials or annuals, and are propa- 

 gated by seeds, the perennials also by division, the 

 shrubs by cuttings in spring or summer. They succeed 

 in any good garden soil in a sunny situation. The lower- 

 growing forms are good rock-plants; the taller are 

 adapted to the herbaceous border. The shrubby forms 

 are greenhouse plants or grown only in warmer parts of 

 the country, particularly California, where they are 

 everblooming, and where they do well along the coast 

 even in exposed places by the sea. The shrubby spe- 

 cies are mostly natives of New Zealand. They are well 

 reviewed in The Garden 45, page 506, and 28, page 292. 

 Some of them have enjoyed a considerable popularity in 

 England, where they are generally seen in cool conserva- 

 tories, but they survive the winters outdoors in the most 

 favored parts of the British Isles. The first hybrid was 

 raised in 1848 by Isaac Anderson-Henry (then Isaac 

 Anderson), a noted hybridizer. This gentleman con- 

 tinued his experiments for several years, using V. 

 specipsa, V. saHcifolia, and V. elliptica. His work was 

 continued by others, and most of the hybrid veronicas of 

 today have the parentage above indicated, with the 

 blood of V. speciosa generally much in evidence. If a 

 collective name for veronica hybrids is desired, V. spe- 

 ciosa var. hybrida is the best name for the whole group. 

 Unfortunately all these hybrids are unfit for general 

 cultivation out-of-doors in northern climes, but a 

 hardier race will probably be secured by using V. Tra- 

 versii and its allies, which have been introduced more 

 recently. Some of these are V. Colensoi, V. anomala, 

 V. monticola, and V. pimeleoides, all unknown to the 

 American trade. A third and still hardier group of the 

 New Zealand speedwells is the truly alpine group 

 known as whipcord veronicas. These should be hardy 

 in many northern rockeries. They are unknown in 

 America now. The best of the group is said to be a 

 form of V. cupressoides, known to English trade as V, 

 salicornioides. Others in cultivation are V. Hectori, V. 

 Armstrongii, and V. lycopodioides. (A. P. Wyman.) 



The New Zealand veronicas (Cockayne) . 



In New Zealand the veronicas comprise a marked 

 feature in the flora, being represented by many shrubby 

 and semi-shrubby kinds. Several of these species are 

 well-known evergreen garden plants in California and 

 parts of Europe. The following comment on the New 

 Zealand veronicas is by L. D. Cockayne, Wellington; 

 and the systematic treatment of these species is also 

 founded on manuscript contributed by him. 



Excepting the Tasmanian V. formosa, the shrubby 

 species are natives of New Zealand where they occur in 

 all kinds of stations and at all altitudes. In their native 

 land, and in Great Britain and Ireland, they are now 

 widely cultivated, but, unfortunately, none can be con- 

 sidered perfectly hardy in the northern states, though, 

 where the cold of winter does not sink much below 

 12 F., many of the species should thrive admirably. 

 All can be readily propagated from seeds or cuttings. 

 If the latter are taken from adult plants in the autumn, 

 they will bloom during the succeeding summer, and if 

 bedded out on the rockery are most effective. 



The genus in New Zealand contains more than 100 

 species, while nearly all of these can be subdivided into 

 several distinct varieties. There are also astonishing 

 differences in their growth-forms. Some are trees and 

 others shrubs, which latter are erect or prostrate, com- 

 pact and ball-like or wide-spreading, densely leafy or 



. No. 6. 



3914. Veronica longifolia var. subsessilis 



the leaves reduced to adpressed scales so that the plant 

 resembles a cypress (the whipcord veronicas). The 

 flowers also differ considerably and may be in small 

 heads, racemes of different length, corymbs, or long 

 branched panicles. The usual color is white, but crim- 

 son, lilac, violet, and blue are met with. Usually the 

 leaves are bright green and perhaps glossy, but in some 

 species, and this is a sign of hardiness, they are of a 

 pleasing pale glaucous hue. 



The compact shrubby species lend an admirable 

 effect to the garden landscape when massed together on 

 banks, many looking as if trimmed into a ball-like 

 form by the gardener's hand. Most forms tolerate clip- 

 ping to any extent. Some, especially V. elliptica, V. 

 angustifolia, and V. leiophylla, make excellent evergreen 

 hedges. A small form of the polymorphic V. buxifalia 

 can be used as an edging after the manner of the box. 



The species are exceedingly difficult to determine 

 and errors abound in garden nomenclature, while 

 unpublished names are frequent. Natural hybrids 

 also occur and this brings in further confusion. Also, 

 there are a number of garden hybrids in cultivation, 

 mostly between V, speciosa and its nearer relatives. 

 Much more important for colder countries are the 



