[Plate 54.] 



THE ANDERSON VERONICA. 



(veronica andersonil) 

 A Garden Hybrid, 



6 VERONICA SPBCIOSA. ? VERONICA SALICIFOLIA. 



EVERY one is now familiar with the graceful half-hardy Willow-leaved Veronica of New 

 Zealand [V. salieifolia), which is so commonly known in gardens under the alias of 

 V. Lindleyl. It is a shrub with narrow willow-like leaves, and graceful spikes of white 

 flowers. 



Equally common has become that far more imposing, though less graceful species, the 

 Showy Veronica or Napuka (~F r . speciosa), from the same country, conspicuous for its broad 

 blunt solid leaves imitating those of the laurel, and its stiff erect massive tufts of deep 

 violet flowers. 



Both are nearly hardy — in Devonshire and Cornwall quite so ; but in most of the 

 English and all the Scotch counties they can only be made to thrive as greenhouse plants, 

 amongst which they are the gayest in their season, which is autumn. 



It occurred to a very intelligent gentleman named Anderson, residing at Maryfield, near 

 Edinburgh, who has long occupied himself with questions of hybridisation, that the two 

 plants would probably cross. He therefore powdered the stigma of the willow-leaved Veronica 

 with the pollen of the Napuka, from which sprang a most extraordinary race, now called 

 V. Andersonil. The leaves of the mule are broader than those of the Willow-leaved, narrower 

 and thinner than those of Napuka ; the manner of growth and form of the tufts of flowers 

 is exactly intermediate, and stranger still each tuft is particoloured, white at the bottom like 

 the Willow-leaved, rich violet at the top like the Napuka ! In short, the newly constituted 

 plant is one of the most beautiful of all those which the art of man has yet, with all 

 reverence be it said, succeeded in producing. It flowers copiously in September and October. 



