Veronica Prostrata L

Allied to V. Teucrium, but smaller, and with narrow-lanceolate leaves, slightly toothed or entire, and thickly covered with grey pubescence. Flowers pale blue, rather small, in axillary and opposite spikes. Calyx glabrous, very unequally divided. Stems prostrate and then ascending. Rootstock almost woody.

Dry hills and grassy places; local. May, June.

Distribution

Central and Southern Europe. Rather rare in Switzerland and Jura, and commoner in France.

Veronica Spicata L

Stems ascending and erect, 6-12 inches high, simple. Leaves oblong or ovate in lower part of stem, downy and finely crenate or toothed. Flowers bright blue, rarely pink or white, small, in a dense terminal spike. Lobes of corolla narrower and less spreading than in many species.

Hilly pastures and dry, grassy places from the plains to the Alpine region. Seen as high as 8500 feet near Mont Cenis by the author; most common in limestone districts. July to September.

Distribution

Central and Northern Europe, Northern and Western Asia, but not within the Arctic Circle; rare in Britain.

Veronica Fruticulosa (L.) Wulf

Stem woody below and procumbent, rooting, annual shoots 6-9 inches high. Leaves opposite, glabrous, fleshy, crowded with weak hairs on the margin; upper leaves lanceolate, obtuse, sessile, entire or crenate; lower leaves smaller, narrowed into a short leaf-stalk. Raceme terminal, at length elongated. Flowers pink or rose, veined with a darker tint. Capsule roundish ovate, compressed, hairy towards apex, as long as the calyx. Style as long as the capsule. Distinguished from the nearly allied V. saxatilis L. by the glandular hairs, red flowers, and the longer leaves.

Stony Alpine and sub-alpine places up to 8000 feet; local. June to August.

Distribution

Eastern, Central, and Western Alps, Southern Jura, Pyrenees, Sierra Nevada; rare in Switzerland except on the Jura (Dole) and about Engelberg, on limestone.

Veronica Saxatilis Scop. (V. Fruticans Jacq.). (Plate XVI)

Stem 2-6 inches high, ascending from a woody base. Leaves oblong-lanceolate or oval, obtuse, entire or slightly crenate, thick, coriaceous; lower leaves smaller. Inflorescence covered with very short, curved glandular hairs. Flowers large, handsome, blue with a red ring at the throat. Capsule longer than the calyx, ovoid, and slightly conical. Style at least as long as the capsule. A very variable species, according to situation, soil, etc. It possesses a strong dye, which is such that a dried specimen in the herbarium frequently makes an exact impression on the sheet of that above it. Stony places in the Alps and sub-Alps. June to August or September. Prefers granite.

1. GEUM MONTANUM. 2. POTENTILLA GRANDIFlORA VAR. MINOR. 3. VERONICA SAXATIEIS. 5. VERONICA URTICIFOLIA. 6. SEDUM ALBUM. 7. RUMEX SCUTATUS.

Plate XVI.

1. GEUM MONTANUM.

2. POTENTILLA GRANDIFlORA VAR. MINOR.

3. VERONICA SAXATIEIS.

5. VERONICA URTICIFOLIA.

6. SEDUM ALBUM.

7. RUMEX SCUTATUS.

4/7 NATURAL. SIZE.

Distribution

Carpathians, Sudetic Mountains, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps; Vosges, Jura, Auvergne, Pyrenees, Corsica; rare in Scotland; Scandinavia.

Veronica Aphylla L

Stem naked, 1-2 inches high. Runners creeping, few-leaved, hairy. Leaves ovate or obovate, crenate-serrate or nearly entire, obtuse, with very short leaf-stalk, crowded almost into rosettes. Flowers pale blue or mauve, very fugitive, in a single axillary or apparently terminal, long-stalked, few-flowered, glandular, corymbose raceme, which is elongated when the fruit is ripe. Flower-stalks erect in fruit, longer than the capsule. Capsule oval or obovate, emarginate, longer than the 4-cleft calyx.

Rocky, moist places on the high Alps up to 9000 feet, and not descending to the sub-alpine regions. June to August.

Distribution

Carpathians, Alps, Jura, Pyrenees, Caucasus, Altai, N. America.