Veronica trifida

Detailed description

Subshrub, 50-200 mm tall. Old stems brown or grey. Branches prostrate to ascending. Branchlets brown or purplish. Vegetative internodes 1-5 mm long. Stems uniformly pubescent hairs uniform, retrorse-appressed, eglandular. Leaves decussate or subdistichous, erecto-patent. Lamina oblanceolate or obovate or oblong or elliptic or spathulate or orbicular (rarely), 2-10 × 1-7 mm. Upper surface of leaves green or bronze green, glossy. Under surface of leaves green or bronze green or purple, glossy. Leaf hairs sparse to scattered or absent, along margins and on petiole, uniseriate glandular with globular head. Apex subacute or obtuse or rounded. Base cuneate. Margin minutely papillate, glandular-ciliate, and ciliate (rarely), rarely entire or crenate or serrate or lobed. Marginal teeth or lobes in 0-3 pairs. Petiole 1-2 mm long. Inflorescence of 1-2 flowers, 15-25 mm long at fruiting. Indumentum of peduncle, rachis, and pedicels moderately dense to very dense. Eglandular hairs of inflorescence deflexed (glandular hairs patent), white. Peduncle 2-10 mm long, eglandular-pubescent and glandular-pubescent; hairs all around peduncle. Rachis 20-50 mm long, eglandular-pubescent and glandular-pubescent, hairs all around rachis. Bracts alternate or paired and opposite, subacute or acute, glandular ciliate, glandular pubescent abaxially, and glandular pubescent adaxially (sparse or absent), elliptic or obovate. Bract margins entire. Pedicels suberect at anthesis, straight at fruiting, 0.5-7.0 mm long, eglandular-pubescent and glandular-pubescent; hairs all around pedicel. Flowers: Calyx 4-lobed, 5-8 mm long. Calyx lobes oblanceolate or spathulate, subacute or obtuse. Calyx hairs on both abaxial and adaxial surfaces, mixed eglandular and mostly glandular. Calyx lobe margins entire. Corolla white at anthesis or mauve at anthesis (rarely). Nectar guides absent. Corolla throat yellow. Corolla 15–20 mm diameter Corolla tube 1.5-3.0 mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm wide, glabrous. Corolla lobes glabrous. Posterior corolla lobe elliptic or obovate, obtuse, 8-10 × 4-7 mm. Lateral corolla lobes elliptic or obovate, obtuse, flat, not enfolding stamens, 8-10 × 4-7 mm. Anterior corolla lobe elliptic or obovate, obtuse, 8-10 × 3-6 mm. Stamen filaments white, 3-4 mm long, not narrowed at base. Anthers mauve to purple, 1.0-1.5 mm long. Nectarial disc glabrous. Ovary ellipsoid, acute, glabrous or glandular hairy (sparsely at apex), 2.0-2.5 mm long. Style 3-4 mm long. Stigma 0.3–0.5 mm wide. Capsules strongly flattened, emarginate 4.5-6.0 × 2.5-3.0 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Hairs glandular, if present. Septicidal split of capsule extending to base. Loculicidal split of capsule extending ½ way to base. Seeds strongly flattened, smooth-surfaced, ellipsoid or obovoid, pale brown, 0.5-0.8 × 0.4-0.6 mm