Veronica rivalis

Detailed description

Spindly, brittle, openly branched 1-1.5 m tall shrub of riverine habitats, favouring sites prone to sudden flooding. Branches erect, rather brittle, brown to grey-brown; branchlets spindly, green, bifariously or occasionally uniformly puberulent, or rarely glabrous; internodes 1.5-29 mm; leaf scars weakly evident or obscure. Leaf bud distinct without sinus. Leaves 15-118 x 3-12 mm, dull dark green to yellow-green, linear to linear-lanceolate, membranous, apex acute to obtuse, margin ciliolate, entire or finely, and distantly denticulate. Inflorescence a lateral, usually unbranched raceme 27-135 mm long, bearing 13-81 flowers; peduncle 5-19 mm; rachis 2-117 mm, longer than or equal to subtending leaves. Bracts alternate, narrowly deltoid or lanceolate, acute, outer surface hairy. Flowers white or tinged pale mauve; pedicels 0.5-5 mm, longer than or equal to bracts, usually recurved in fruit. Calyx 2-3.5 mm; lobes very narrowly deltoid or lanceolate, acute to acuminate, densely to sparsely hairy on the outer surface. Corolla tube 1.3-2.8 x 1.6-01.8 mm, white to pale mauve, shortly funnelform, much shorter than or equal to calyx, internally densely hairy, externally rarely so; lobes white or tinged pale mauve at anthesis, lanceolate, acute, or subacute, suberect to patent, usually longer than corolla tube (sometime shorter), sometimes ciliate and/or hairy on the outer surface. Stamen filaments 4-6.5 mm; anthers 1.9-2.2 mm, mauve. Ovary 0.9-1.2 mm, narrowly ovoid, usually sparsely or minutely hairy; style 3.5-5.5 mm. Capsules 2-3.5 x 1.6-3 mm, pale brown to brown, obtuse or subacute, occasionally sparsely hairy. Seeds 0.9-1.4 x 0.9 -1.1 mm, straw-yellow, strongly flattened, ellipsoid to discoid, weakly winged.