1118 
LXXXVII. SCROPHULARINE-iE. 
[Veronica. 
5. V. serpyllifolia (Serpyllum-leaved), Linn.; Benth. in DC. Prod. x. 432 ; 
and FI. Anstr., iv. 511. A perennial with shortly creeping very much branched 
stems, forming a small flat dense leafy tuft, the flowering branches ascending 
from 2in. to nearly ^ft., the whole plant minutely pubescent or nearly glabrous. 
Lower leaves shortly petiolate. the upper ones sessile or nearly so, ovate, obtuse, 
slightly crenate, rarely exceeding £in. Flowers very small, of a pale-blue or 
white with darker streaks, on pedicels from 1 to 1£ line, or rarely nearly 
sessile, in a simple terminal raceme or spike, the subtending bracts, especially 
the lower ones, rather large and leaf-like and passing into the stem leaves. 
Calyx but little more than 1 line long at the time of flowering, somewhat 
enlarged in fruit. Corolla scarcely exceeding the calyx. Capsule broad, com- 
pressed, often rather deeply notched. 
Hab.: Near Wallangarra. 
The species is common in the temperate and colder regions of both the northern and southern 
hemispheres ascending to high latitudes and great elevations, and also in mountain ranges 
within the tropics. — Benth. 
6. V. peregrina (habit diffuse), Linn.; Benth. in DC. Prod. x. 482 ; and 
FI. Austr. iv. 511. An annual with erect or ascending stems, simple or branch- 
ing at the base, glabrous or minutely glandular-pubescent, usually about 6in. 
high, but lengthening occasionally to 1ft. Radical and lowest leaves petiolate 
and ovate but soon dying off, the others sessile, oblong or linear, entire or 
serrate, rarely exceeding tin., passing into smaller alternate linear floral leaves 
or bracts. Flowers small, pale-blue or white, sessile in the axils of the floral 
leaves or bracts, forming a terminal interrupted leafy spike. Calyx segments 
oblong, but little more than 1 line long, slightly enlarged after flowering. Corolla 
not exceeding the calyx. Capsule, about as broad as long, compressed, slightly 
notched, about 1J line diameter. Seeds very small. 
Hab.: Southern localities. 
The species is common in extratropical America, rather less abundant within the tropics, and 
appears here and there in the Old World introduced from America, and may have been intro- 
duced into Australia. 
23. BUCHNERA, Linn. 
(After J. G. Buchner.) 
Calyx tubular, obscurely nerved, shortly 5-toothed. Corolla-tube slender, 
straight or slightly curved, the limb with 5 almost equal obovate or oblong 
spreading lobes, the 2 upper ones inside in the bud. Stamens 4, in pairs, 
included in the tube ; anthers 1 -celled, vertical. Style club-shaped at the top, 
entire. Capsule straight, not acuminate, opening loculicidally in 2 entire valves. 
— Stiff erect herbs, usually drying black. Lower leaves opposite, the upper 
ones alternate. Flowers sessile, forming terminal dense or interrupted spikes, 
with a pair of bracteoles under the calyx. 
The genus is widely dispersed over the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and 
America. The limits of the species are exceedingly difficult to determine, and the Australian 
ones may be considered either as all endemic or nearly so, or all except B. tetragona may be 
referred as varieties to a single species common in tropical Asia and Africa and very near to a 
common American one. — Benth. 
Flowers in short dense 4-sided spikes, the imbricate bracts very broad and 
as long as the calyx 1 . B. tetragona. 
Flowers in slender interrupted spikes, the bracts either narrow or much 
shorter than the calyx. 
ltadical and lower leaves broad, rosulate ; upper ones narrow, acute. 
Corolla glabrous 
2. B. urtici/olia. 
