254 



VERONICA. 



Flowers, in summer ; amethyst- blue, 

 arranged in branching pyramidal clus- 

 ters. Leaves, opposite, often in threes, 

 stalked, the upper ones nearly sessile, 

 all lance-shaped, acute, notched or in- 

 dented. A variety with rosy flowers 

 is also in cultivation. South of .Europe. 

 Borders, in ordinary soil. Division. 



Veronica austriaca (Austrian Speed- 

 well). A slightly downy kind, form- 

 ing compact masses of shoots covered 

 with sheets of bloom ; 1 ft. high. 

 Flowers, in early summer ; blue, in 

 loose lateral racemes ; pedicels longer 

 than the entire bracts ; calyx 4-parted, 

 somewhat hairy. Leaves, lance-shaped, 

 stalkless, deeply serrated, and pinna- 

 tifid. Central and Southern Europe. 

 Borders, in any soil, and naturali- 

 zation on somewhat bare banks and 

 slopes. Division. 



Veronica Buchanan! (Buchanans 

 Speedwell). A diminutive grey shrub, 

 much and neatly branched ; from 4 to 

 8 in. high. Flowers, in summer ; dull 

 white, in short, dense, terminal heads, 

 \ to g in. long. Leaves, small, about 

 \ in. long, roundish, in fours, closely 

 imbricated, spreading or recurved, 

 sessile. Stem and branches marked 

 with annular scars. New Zealand. 

 The rock-garden, in warm well- 

 drained spots, in light loam. Cuttings. 



Veronica Candida (Silvery Speedwell}. 

 A valuable kind, dwarf in habit, 

 and with silvery leaves ; 1 ft. high. 

 Flowers, in June and July ; purplish- 

 blue, in a dense, pointed spike. Leaves, 

 mostly radical, in tufts, ovate, strongly 

 veined underneath, densely covered 

 with short white down ; stem -leaves 

 few, ovate-lanceolate, decussate, the 

 upper ones with axillary biids. Russia. 

 Borders, edgings, and the rock- 

 garden, in ordinary free soil. When 

 employed as an edging the flower- 

 shoots should be pinched off as soon 

 as they appear. Division. 



Veronica caucasica (Caucasian Speed- 

 well). A pretty, delicately-coloured, 

 medium-sized kind, 4 to 10 in. high. 

 Floirers, in early summer ; few, large, 

 of a very pale flesh-colour streaked 

 with carmine. Leaves, opposite, al- 

 most sessile, pinnate, with oblong or 

 linear-wedge-shaped segments, entire 

 or cut. Stems smooth, spreading. 



The Caucasus. Borders, in ordinar}' 



soil. Division. 



Veronica Chamaedrys (Germander 

 Speedwell). A very pretty and com- 

 mon British plant, remarkable from 

 having hairs curiously arranged in two 

 opposite lines down the stem, while 

 the other portions are smooth ; 6 in. 

 high. Flowers, in spring and summer ; 

 bright blue, freely produced in axillary 

 racemes one from each pair. Leaves, 

 ovate or heart-shaped, unequally ser- 

 rated, hairy, lower ones slightly 

 stalked, upper ones stalkless. Very 

 common throughout Europe. Al- 

 though a very frequent plant in Britain, 

 we grow numbers of exotics much less 

 worthy of a place on borders, or even 

 on rockwork, than this. Seed and 

 division. 



Veronica corymbosa (Many-spiked 

 Speedwell). A slightly downy greyish 

 species and one of the most ornamen- 

 tal ; 2 ft. high. Flowers, in summer ; 

 nearly sessile, small, pale blue, ar- 

 ranged in racemes which together 

 form a large and heavy corymb ; lower 

 bracts longer than the flowers. Leaves, 

 nearly sessile, ovate, acute, serrated 

 towards the end, downy. Nativ* 



country unknown. Borders, in rich 



sandy loam. Division. 



Veronica foliosa (Many-leaved Speed- 

 well). A free - growing perennial, 

 3 ft. high. Flowers, in summer ; lilac- 

 blue, very numerous, in dense, erect, 

 panicled spikes. Leaves, oval, pointed, 

 coarsely serrated, more than 2 in. 

 long and nearly 1 in. across, shortly 

 stalked, in whorls of three. Stein 



