Veronica
Read about Veronica in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Veronica (named in honor of St. Veronica). Scrophulariaceae. Speedwell. Annual and perennial herbs, shrubs, or rarely trees, one group of which, mainly European and American species, are hardy in the North, the other group, New Zealand species, are hardy in California and similar climates and are also somewhat used as greenhouse plants. Leaves opposite, rarely whorled or rather few; cauline lvs. very rarely alternate; floral lvs. always alternate: fls. disposed in terminal or axillary bracteate racemes, or rarely solitary in the axils of alternate lvs., blue, purple, flesh-colored, or white, never yellow; calyx 4-5-parted, very rarely 3-parted; corolla-tube short, usually very short, limb spreading, 4-5-cleft; stamens 2: caps. compressed or turgid, 2-grooved, loculicidally dehiscent, usually obtuse or emarginate.—About 300 species, mostly natives of the temperate and colder regions, a few in the tropics. Veronica was monographed by Bentham in DC. Prod. 10:458-491 (1846), 158 species being then known. About 200 species are now known, very widely distributed. All are showy free-flowering plants, used, except the shrubs, as garden perennials or annuals, and are propagated by seeds, the perennials also by division, the shrubs by cuttings in spring or summer. They succeed in any good garden soil in a sunny situation. The lower-growing forms are good rock-plants; the taller are adapted to the herbaceous border. The shrubby forms are greenhouse plants or grown only in warmer parts of the country, particularly California, where they are ever-blooming, and where they do well along the coast even in exposed places by the sea. The shrubby species are mostly natives of New Zealand. They are well reviewed in The Garden 45, page 506, and 28, page 292. Some of them have enjoyed a considerable popularity in England, where they are generally seen in cool conservatories, but they survive the winters outdoors in the most favored parts of the British Isles. The first hybrid was raised in 1848 by Isaac Anderson-Henry (then Isaac Anderson), a noted hybridizer. This gentleman continued his experiments for several years, using V. speciosa, V. salicifolia, and V. elliptica. His work was continued by others, and most of the hybrid veronicas of today have the parentage above indicated, with the blood of V. speciosa generally much in evidence. If a collective name for veronica hybrids is desired, V. speciosa var. hybrida is the best name for the whole group. Unfortunately all these hybrids are unfit for general cultivation out-of-doors in northern climes, but a hardier race will probably be secured by using V. Traversii and its allies, which have been introduced more recently. Some of these are V. Colensoi, V. anomala, V. monticola, and V. pimeleoides,—all unknown to the American trade. A third and still hardier group of the New Zealand speedwells is the truly alpine group known as whipcord veronicas. These should be hardy in many northern rockeries. They are unknown in America now. The best of the group is said to be a form of V. cupressoides, known to English trade as V. salicornioides. Others in cultivation are V. Hectori, V. Armstrongii, and V. lycopodioides. (A. P. Wyman.) The New Zealand veronicas (Cockayne). In New Zealand the veronicas comprise a marked feature in the flora, being represented by many shrubby and semi-shrubby kinds. Several of these species are well-known evergreen garden plants in California and parts of Europe. The following comment on the New Zealand veronicas is by L. D. Cockayne, Wellington; and the systematic treatment of these species is also founded on manuscript contributed by him. Excepting the Tasmanian V. formosa, the shrubby species are natives of New Zealand where they occur in all kinds of stations and at all altitudes. In their native land, and in Great Britain and Ireland, they are now widely cultivated, but, unfortunately, none can be considered perfectly hardy in the northern states, though, where the cold of winter does not sink much below 12° F., many of the species should thrive admirably. All can be readily propagated from seeds or cuttings. If the latter are taken from adult plants in the autumn, they will bloom during the succeeding summer, and if bedded out on the rockery are most effective. The genus in New Zealand contains more than 100 species, while nearly all of these can be subdivided into several distinct varieties. There are also astonishing differences in their growth-forms. Some are trees and others shrubs, which latter are erect or prostrate, compact and ball-like or wide-spreading, densely leafy or the leaves reduced to adpressed scales so that the plant resembles a cypress (the whipcord veronicas). The flowers also differ considerably and may be in small heads, racemes of different length, corymbs, or long branched panicles. The usual color is white, but crimson, lilac, violet, and blue are met with. Usually the leaves are bright green and perhaps glossy, but in some species, and this is a sign of hardiness, they are of a pleasing pale glaucous hue. The compact shrubby species lend an admirable effect to the garden landscape when massed together on banks, many looking as if trimmed into a ball-like form by the gardener’s hand. Most forms tolerate clipping to any extent. Some, especially V. elliptica, V. angustifolia, and V. leiophylla, make excellent evergreen hedges. A small form of the polymorphic V. buxifolia can be used as an edging after the manner of the box. The species are exceedingly difficult to determine and errors abound in garden nomenclature, while unpublished names are frequent. Natural hybrids also occur and this brings in further confusion. Also, there are a number of garden hybrids in cultivation, mostly between V. speciosa and its nearer relatives. Much more important for colder countries are the hybrids due to crossing the more hardy alpine species. So far as American gardens are concerned the following, not yet introduced or rare in cultivation (some of them not here described), would be desirable novelties: V. Dieffenbachii, V. gigantea, V. Barkeri, V. Lewisii, V. leiophylla, V. Bollonsii, V. anomala, V. vernicosa, V. monticola, V. Menziesii, V. decumbens, V. tetragona, V. Armstrongii, V. propinqua, V. loganioides, V. Lavaudiana, and V. Raoulii. Those desiring more information about the shrubby veronicas should consult Cheeseman's "Manual of the New Zealand Flora," Wellington, 1906, and the subsequent volumes of the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute." V. amoena, Hort., not Bieb., is described as growing 1 ft. high, flowering early: fls. rosy, in neat spikes. The true V. amoena is apparently not in cult.— V. angustifolia var. rosea, Hort., is offered in the trade as shrubby with fls. bright rose in spikes; not determinable botanically as the specific name angustifolia has been used for several different forms.—V. bachofensis, Hort., is offered in the trade as growing 4 ft. high: fls. dark blue in long slender spikes; possibly the same as V. Bachofenii.— V. Bachoferi, Hort., is offered as growing 1 ft. high, of close habit with lavender-blue fls.; possibly the same as V. Bachofenii.—V. circaeoides, Don, is offered in the trade, but is not now included in any of the Swiss botanies. The material passing under this name in the trade may be described as follows: Low, trailing perennial, growing in a dense mass: lvs. lanceolate, crenate toward the apex, small, dark green, numerous; racemes many, 6 in. high: fls. small, dark blue. May, June. Considered one of the best. Valuable as a ground-cover, as a rock-plant, or at the front of an herbaceous border.— V. coelestinum, Hort., is offered in the trade as very dwarf and spreading, with pale blue fls. Var. corymbosa, Hort. ex Don, is a nomen nudum, out material growing less than 9 in. high, with dense glomerate heads of dark blue fls. is offered in the trade under this name.— V. edinensis-V. Hectori X V. pimelioides.—V. elegantissima, Hort., is a trade name. —V. Forrestii, Diels. Perennial, 6-15 in. high: sts. decumbent, creeping, branched and stoloniferous at base: lvs. petioled, narrowly ovate or oblong, 3/8 – 3/4 in. long, glabrous, paler and often purplish beneath: racemes terminal or axillary: fls. reddish; sepals oblong or lanceolate-oblong, glandular-puberulent; corolla pilose at throat: caps. obliquely rhomboid. Mountains of W. Yunnan, China.—V. Girdwoodii, Hort., is a trade name.—V. Guthrieana, Hort., is a garden hybrid, said to grow 9 in. high: fls. blue.— V. herbacea, Hort., is offered in the trade as having narrow foliage and starry blue fls.—V. Koenitzeri, Hort., is a trade name.—V. Lindsayi, Hort., is offered in the trade as having large trusses of pink fls.— V. meldensis, Hort., is a trade name.—V. myrtifolia-V. Balfouriana X V. salicifolia.—V. Pringlei, Hort., is offered in the trade as having loose tufts of pale blue fls.—V. rupestris, Hort., is probably V. Teucrium var. prostrata. The name rupestris has been used for various forms; that of Salisbury applies to V. fruticulosa, that of Tardent to a plant from S. Russia, the description of which is not available.— V. rupestris of the trade has axillary, many-fld. racemes. It is a low plant with woody horizontal st. and erect flowering branches 4 or 5 in. high with strict racemes of purplish fls. borne in June and a 4-parted calyx. The caps. is obcordate. This plant has been offered by Rochester nurserymen ever since 1894 and was cult. at Harvard Botanic Garden as far back as 1883. Lvs. narrowly oblong, entire or serrate, 1/2 - 1 in. long: calyx-segms. strongly unequal: pedicels longer than calyx: st. pubescent: lvs. sparsely ciliate, short-petioled. Gn. 78. p. 161. Var. alba, Hort., has white fls. Var. pallida, Hort., is offered as a pretty trailing species with masses of lilac-blue fls.—V. umbilicata spinosa, Hort., is a trade name.— V. utriculata, Hort., is a trade name.— V. Veitchii, Hort., is a horticultural name. G.M. 54:801.—V. verbenacea, Hort., is unknown botanically, but has been offered by Rochester nurserymen since 1894 as a form with lvs. short-petioled, narrowly elliptic, serrate in the upper half: racemes lateral: fls. blue. –V.verbenifolia foliis variegates, Hort., is a trade name.-V.Waldsteinii, Hort., is offered in the trade as having spikes of blue fls. appearing in very late summer. — V. Whittallii, Hort., is offered in the trade as having dense hillocks of dark green foliage and spikes of pale blue fls.
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Veronica. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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