Common name: Digger's Speedwell
Veronica perfoliata R.Br. APNI* Synonyms: Derwentia perfoliata (R.Br.) B.G.Briggs & Ehrend. APNI* Parahebe perfoliata (R.Br.) B.G.Briggs & Ehrend. APNI*
Description: Erect or decumbent woody herb or shrub to c. 120 cm high, glabrous and glaucous; stems several from a narrow woody rootstock or forming shortly rhizomatous clumps, mostly unbranched below inflorescence, stems flowering in only 1 season before dying back to base.
Leaves narrow-ovate to broad-ovate, usually 1.5–5.5 cm long and 15–40 mm wide, apex acute or acuminate, base perfoliate or cordate or cuneate, margins entire or finely crenate or with up to c. 10 pairs of shallow or coarse acute teeth, lamina with 3–9 ± longitudinal veins from near base; sessile.
Racemes 10–45 cm long, usually 25–70-flowered; pedicels 5–12 mm long in fruit. Calyx lobes 3–5 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, glabrous. Corolla 7–12 mm long, blue or purplish blue.
Capsule ± ovate, 4.5–8.5 mm long, 2.8–3.5 mm wide, scarcely compressed apex obtuse or acute, glabrous, dull.
Flowering: mostly summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in eucalypt forest and woodland, alpine meadows, heath, and rock screes, mostly 500-1750 m alt.; south from near Rylstone.
NSW subdivisions: SC, CT, ST, NWS, CWS, SWS
Other Australian states: Vic.
Text by B. G. Briggs & R. O. Makinson Taxon concept: as under Derwentia perfoliata in Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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