572 SCROPHULARIACE^E. Veronica. 



15. VERONICA, Linn. Speedwell, Brooklme. 



Calyx 4-parted. Corolla rotate, 4-parted ; the lower lobe and sometimes the 

 lateral ones narrower than the others. Stamens 2, inserted on the throat of the 

 corolla, one each side of its upper lobe, exserted : cells of the anther confluent at 

 the apex. Style tipped with a somewhat capitate stigma. Capsule compressed, 

 few— many-seeded ; the dehiscence generally loculicidal. — Leaves opposite or some- 

 times in whorls, or in one species mostly alternate. Flowers small, in racemes or 

 spikes, or sometimes solitary in the axils, blue, purplish, or white. 



A genus of about 150 species, distributed almost throughout the world, mainly in temperate 

 and frigid regions, not largely represented in North America, and scanty in California. In high 

 latitudes of the southern hemisphere several are shrubs or trees : one or two of these are in orna- 

 mental cultivation. 



=s Low perennials, with opposite leaves. 

 +- Racemes axillary : plants glabrous, decumbent or ascending, rooting at base. 



1. V. Americana, Schweinitz. Stems a span to 2 feet long : leaves ovate or 

 mostly oblong, serrate, rather succulent, short-petioled, the base slightly cordate or 

 truncate : racemes opposite, slender-peduncled, mauy-flowered : pedicels slender, 

 diverging : corolla bluish with purple stripes : cajosule turgid, many-seeded. 



In brooks and ditches, not uncommon : extending north to Alaska and east to the Atlantic. 

 Formerly confounded with the V. Beccdbunga of Europe. 



V. Anagallis, Linn., like the preceding but with sessile and mostly clasping acute leaves, 

 occurs both north and east of California. 



V. scutellata, Linn., growing in cold swamps northward, is also in Oregon. It is well 

 marked by its linear sessile leaves, loose racemes from alternate axils, filiform divaricate pedicels, 

 and very fiat few-seeded deeply notched capsules. 



+- -f- Baceme terminal, leafy beloiu : pedicels short, erect: capsule flat, several-seeded. 



2. V. alpina, Linn. Pubescent, or becoming glabrous below : simple stems 

 erect from a somewhat creeping base, a span or more high : leaves oval, oblong, or 

 the lowest roundish, somewhat toothed or entire, sessile : raceme spike-like, few- 

 flowered : corolla blue : capsule obovate or oblong, slightly notched. — The Green- 

 land and American form, var. Wormskioldii, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 2795. V. Worms- 

 kioldii, Reenter & Schultes. 



High portions of the Sierra Nevada, at 8,500 to 10,000 feet (Brewer, Bolunder): also in the 

 alpine region of the Rocky Mountains, of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and through 

 the arctic regions. 



3. V. serpyllifolia, Linn. Minutely pubescent or glabrous, branching and 

 creeping at base, leafy : flowering shoots about a span high : leaves round-ovate or 

 oblong, obscurely crenate, thickish, barely half an inch long ; the lower short- 

 petioled ; the upper gradually diminished into lanceolate or oblong bracts : raceme 

 strict : corolla whitish or bluish with deeper stripes : capsule strongly notched, 

 broader than long. 



Not yet received from the State, but doubtless in the Sierra Nevada, as it occurs northward 

 and eastward, extending through the cooler parts of the northern hemisphere. 



* % Low annual : all the upper leaves alternate. 



4. V. peregrina, Linn. Minutely pubescent or glabrous, a span or more high, 

 erect, branching : leaves rather succulent, mostly linear-oblong, obtuse ; the lower 

 corunionly toothed ; the upper entire and narrower, gradually diminishing, but all 

 longer than the very short-pedicelled flowers in their axils : corolla inconspicuous : 

 capsule rounded-obcordate, many-seeded. 



Waste and cultivated grounds, especially near habitations, everywhere appearing like an intro- 

 duced weed, but doubtless of American origin. 



