Branched veronica, or bush-forming

Synonyms: branched veronica, shrubby veronica, Petrodora saxatilis Fourr., Veronica saxatilis Scop.

Veronica fruticans (Veronica fruticans Jacq.) – a species of plants from the genus Veronica of the Plantaginaceae family. It was first described by Joseph Franz von Jacquin in 1762 in his «s: Enum. Stirp. Vindob. 200».

Occurs in Western Europe: Spain (Pyrenees), France (Pyrenees, Alps, Corsica), Italy, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom (Scotland), Germany (Bavaria), Austria (Styria, Tyrol), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland (Carpathians), Sweden (mountains), Norway, Finland (rare), Iceland; Ukraine (Carpathians), Russian Federation (Khibiny); in North America: Greenland (southwest and southeast). Found on moist meadows, on mountain rocks (limestone), on screes, meadows in the alpine and subalpine belts. It rises in the mountains to an altitude of 2800 m above sea level.

A semi-shrub 5-10 cm in height. Stems branched, densely covered with leaves, erect, ascending or rising, covered with appressed, curly and short hairs, more rarely glabrous.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate or elliptic, 1-2 cm long and 0.2-0.6 cm wide, apex blunt, margins indistinctly toothed, slightly undulate or almost entire, base cuneate, glabrous and glossy, rather thick. Lower leaves petiolated, upper leaves sessile and gradually pass into bracts.

Flowers gathered in terminal, more rarely lateral racemes, sparse, pubescent with sparse curly and glandular hairs. There are 1-18 flowers, located in the axils of the lower leaf bracts. Pedicels straight. Calyx segments 4, spatulate, oblong to lanceolate, rarely with a 5th underdeveloped segment, covered with fine short cilia. Corolla 10-14 mm in diameter, dark blue, with a purple throat, rarely pink, with a short tube and 5 veins, the limb wheel-shaped, with 3 almost equal rounded lobes and 1 larger, rounded-reniform lobe. Flowers in July.

Fruits are oblong-lanceolate capsules, 7-9 mm long and 3-5 mm wide, narrowed toward the apex, about twice as long as the calyx or almost equal to it, without a notch. They dehisce into 4 valves along the sutures or along the placental column. Seeds numerous, small, oblong-ovoid. Fruits appear in August.

Hardiness zone: 3a (-29C).

Exposure: preferably partial shade, as it tolerates overheating poorly.

Soil: prefers non-acidic, sandy loam soil.

Care: practically needs no care. After flowering, shoots are pruned. Does not require winter protection.

Pests: butterfly caterpillars, galls, mites, weevils.

Diseases: raspberry ring spot, mycorrhiza.

Propagation: by seed and vegetatively. Seeds are sown outdoors in autumn. Seedlings appear in the 2nd year. For cuttings, use the tips of growing shoots. Easily propagated by dividing the clump in early spring or in August. When transplanting, the above-ground part is pruned.

Uses: used in rock gardens for planting on large areas, in flower rockeries, on terraces or dry sites, and in mixed borders.