Veronica gentianoides

Synonyms: Veronica charadzeae Kem.-Nath., Veronica kemulariae Kuth., Veronica Kemularii, Veronica Kharadze.

Veronica gentianoides Vahl – a species of plants of the genus Veronica in the Plantaginaceae family. It was first described by the Danish botanist Martin Vahl in 1790 in his «Symb. Bot. (Vahl) i. 1.». In cultivation since 1784.

Occurs in Ukraine (Crimea (Yayla)), in the Caucasus (except Karachay-Cherkessia, the Stavropol plateau, Kabristan), in Asia (Turkey and the northern part of Iran). Found on moist mountain meadows, grows on grassy treeless slopes, at the forest edges of beech and pine woods, in the subalpine, alpine and upper forest zones. Ascends to elevations up to 3600 m above sea level.

A perennial herbaceous plant 30-80 (100) cm tall with erect and ascending stems, simple, most often solitary, often purple in the upper part. Basal shoots sterile, glabrous or almost glabrous, glandular-pubescent. Roots oblique or horizontal, thin, long, creeping.

Basal leaves in a rosette, numerous, somewhat thick, leathery, lanceolate, obovate-lanceolate, more rarely almost round, spatulate, up to 15 cm long and up to 3 cm wide; margins entire, becoming shallowly serrate toward the apex, less often crenate, whitish-cartilaginous at the edges, narrowed below into a winged and short petiole. Stem leaves spreading, 4-6 or numerous, clustered, lower ones opposite, upper ones alternate, almost sessile, margins toothed or entire, gradually becoming almost lanceolate; bracts glandular-pubescent.

Flowers are gathered in terminal racemose inflorescences, loose, many-flowered, glandular-pubescent. Peduncles covered with glandular hairs, 2-3 times longer than the bracts and calyx or equal to them, erect or deflexed, 3-15 mm long, lengthening in fruit. Calyx 2.5-5 mm long; lobes 4, narrow-lanceolate or oblong, almost equal, obtuse, 1-3 mm long; corolla pale-blue or whitish with darker stripes along the whole length or only on the lower part, 8-10 mm in diameter. Stamens nearly as long as the corolla. Anthers lilac-coloured, ovoid. Filaments straight, white. Styles long, pale blue, gradually thickening. Flowers in early summer.

Fruits are capsules 3-8 mm long and 3-7 mm wide, roundly obcordate or elliptic, flattened, emarginate at the apex, base rounded. Seeds concave, with a smooth surface, with a scar, elliptical, up to 1 mm long.

Varieties:

• V. g. var. alpina
• V. g. var. eglandulosa
• V. g. var. gentianoides
• V. g. var. glacialis

Cultivars: 'Nana', 'Variegata', 'Tissington White', 'Alba', 'Ramona', 'Tissington White'.

Hardiness zone: 3a (-29C).

Location: prefers light but tolerates shade.

Soil: undemanding, grows on any soil.

Care: practically does not require care. When flowering is finished, stems are cut back. Does not require winter protection.

Pests: butterfly caterpillars, galls, mites, weevils.

Diseases: raspberry ring spot, mycorrhiza.

Propagation: by seeds and vegetatively. Seeds are sown in the ground in autumn. Seedlings appear in the 2nd year. Tip cuttings of growing shoots are used for cuttings. Easily propagated by division of the clump in early spring or in August. When transplanting, the above-ground part is cut back.

Uses: used in rockeries, terraces, suitable for the front of mixed borders and for creating clumps.