V E R O N I C A fruticulofa.
Flejh-coloured Shrubby Speedwell.
DIANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. C har. Cor. inferior, of 1 petal, 4-cleft, wheel-
fhaped ; lower clivifion narroweft. Caff. 2-celled.
Sp e c . Char. Corymbus terminal, fpiked, manyflowered.
Leaves elliptic-lanceolate. Stems
eredl. Capfule ovate, o f four valves.
Syn . Veronica fruticulofa. Linn. S f. P I. 1$. Matit.
316. Sm. FI. B rit. 18.
V . frutefcens. Scof. Cam. v . I. 19.
V. n. 545. Hall. H iß. v . 1. 235. t. 16. ƒ. x.
'T 'H E Rev. Dr. W alker firft obferved this plant in Scotland,
and communicated it to me in 1782. It has been found with
the preceding upon Ben Lawers, flowering at the fame feafon.
In ftrong .woody roots, and Hems branching and intricate at
their bafe, it agrees with the laft; but the flowering-branches
are perfectly upright, 6 inches or more in height, each bearing
a fpike (rather than a corymbus) of a confiderable number of
flowers, whofe corolla is flefh-coloured, never blue, and whofe
flalks fcarcely at all exceed their Ir ablets in length. The leaves
alfo are rather paler, much more numerous, oblong, a little
downy at their edges and veins. They are fometimes quite
entire, fometimes crenate or ferrated, being in that particular
liable to vary greatly. The capfule and calyx agree much
with thofe of V. fa xa tilis, and the flower-flalks are lengthened
out as the fruit ripens; but never in fo great a degree as in
that fpecies.
In both thefe kinds of Speedwell the flowering branches are
merely annual, though the ftem below is woody and truly
perennial, fo that the latter ought rather to be efteemed the
naked crown of the root.
The fynonym of Morifon, quoted by Scopoli, clearly belongs
to V. faxatilis.