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V E R O N I C A alpina.
Alpine Speedwell.
* 1
D I A N D R I A Monogynla.
G en. C h ar . Cor. inferior, o f one petal, four-cleft 7
lower divition narrowed. Capf. two-celled.
Spe c. C har. Corymbus terminal. Leaves oppolite,
ovate, fmooth, flightly ferrated. Calyx hairy. Stem
limple, afcending.
Syn. Veronica alpina. Sp. P L 15. With. 14. Dick/.
Crypt.fafc. 2. 29. T r. o f Linn. Soc. v . 2. 287.
G a t h e r e d on the mountains of Badenoch, Scotland, kt
1794, by Mr. J. Mackay, who fent us this fpecimen. Mr.
Dickfon firft afcertained the real V . alpina to be a native of Britain,
and the plant fo denominated by Mr. Lightfoot to be a
new fpecies, now named humifufa: confequently the defcrip-
tion in the Flo. Scot., compiled from Linnaeus’s Flora Lappsnica,
is there mifapplied, and belongs to the fpecies here before us.
V . alpina flowers in July and Auguft, and is perennial. It
is found only on the highelt alps, in boggy fpots among trickling
rills. Root of long Ample fibres. Stems branched and procumbent
at the very bafe, from whence they alfo throw out
roots, then obliquely upright, three or four inches high, leafy,
round, fmooth or hairy. Leaves oppofite, on fhort foot-ftalks,
ovate, rather obtufe, often entire, but generally with a few
difperfed crenatures, dark green, polifhed, fmooth. Flowers in
a fhort, denfe, blunt fpike or corymbus, afterwards lengthened
ou t; the lowermoft flower-ftalks longeft. Calyx in four, rather
unequal, hairy and ciliated fegments. All the hairs are finely
jointed. Flowers bright blue, with a white tube. Capfule
comprefled, notched, hairy, tipped with the permanent ftyle.