Veronica benthamii

Detailed description

Bushy or spreading shrub up to 1 × 1 m. branches decumbent or ascending; branchlets pubescent or glabrous, if hairy then hairs white, bifarious or occasionally uniform; internodes 1.0–13.0–15.6 mm; leaves abscising at nodes. Leaf bud obscured by surrounding leaves, leaves usually overtopping bud. Leaves connate, erecto-patent to reflexed; lamina elliptic or obovate, coriaceous, flat, 10.0–33.0 × 3.5–14.5 mm; apex obtuse or truncate; midrib thickened below and depressed above; margin conspicuously puberulent, shallowly to deeply toothed; upper surface green, glabrous to hairy along midrib or hairy toward base. Inflorescences 11–30-flowered, mostly terminal, unbranched or with 3 or more branches (up to 4 lateral branches but never compound branching); peduncle 8–19 mm; rachis 16–93 mm. Bracts opposite and decussate, mostly free rarely connate, usually obovate sometimes elliptic, apex surmounted with a prominent gland, obtuse or subacute, occasionally emarginate. Flowers blue on pedicels 1–4 mm long, these hairy or glabrous. Calyx 3.0–8.5 mm, 4–6-lobed; lobes oblong or obovate, obtuse or subacute with a prominent apical gland, eglandular ciliate (hairs white, long and tangled), glabrous externally, hairy inside. Corolla tube 2.0–3.2 × 3.5–3.9 mm, cylindric, somewhat dorso-ventrally compressed, glabrous, < calyx; lobes 4–6, sky-blue or violet at anthesis, darkening to blue with age, obovate to circular, obtuse (posterior occasionally emarginate), erect to patent, > corolla tube; corolla throat blue or white. Stamen filaments blue, erect, 1.0–1.5 mm; anthers blue, 1.2–1.6 mm. Ovary 1.8–2.3 mm, 2–3-locular; style 2.1–3.2 mm. Capsules latiseptate (2-locular) or turgid (3-locular), subacute, 4.5–6.0 mm, hairy, septicidal splits sometimes extending only ¾-way to base, loculicidal split extending ¼–¾-way to base (usually < ½-way). Seeds 1.2–1.9 × 1.3–1.6 mm, straw-yellow or dark brown, strongly flattened, broad ellipsoid to discoid, winged.