Veronica L. - Speedwells

Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves usually opposite but may be in whorls or alternate. Calyx usually with 4 lobes, the fifth when present, small. Flowers usually blue, rarely white or pinkish. Corolla with a very short tube and rotate 4-lobed limb. Stamens 2. Capsule ± laterally flattened.

Derivation of name: Named after St Veronica.

Worldwide: 180 species, mainly N temperate, a few on tropical mountains and in the S Hemisphere; some subcosmopolitan weeds

Britain: 0 cultivated taxa.