Veronica perfoliata
R.Br. Digger's SpeedwellErect or decumbent herb or subshrub 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 sessile, narrow- to broad-ovate, 3–9-veined from near base, usually 1.5–5.5 cm long, 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. 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 c. ovate, 4.5–8.5 mm long, 2.8–3.5 mm wide, scarcely compressed, apex obtuse or acute, glabrous, dull. Flowers mostly summer.
VVP, VRiv, Gold, CVU, NIS, EGL, EGU, HSF, HNF, MonT, VAlp. Also NSW, ACT. Widespread on drier rocky slopes in low open-forest or woodlands, common through auriferous areas of the State.
There is great variation in leaf shape, with narrow-leaved plants mostly in drier areas and broad-leaved plants in moister, cooler sites.
Briggs, B.G.; Makinson, R.O. (1999). Derwentia. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 507–508. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
