Veronica

Speedwells
Genus:	Veronica
Family:	Plantaginaceae
Type:	Annuals, Perennials, Shrubs

Veronica is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae, with about 500 species; it was formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae. Taxonomy for this genus is currently being reanalysed, with the genus Hebe and the related Australasian genera Derwentia, Detzneria, Chionohebe, Heliohebe, Leonohebe and Parahebe included by many botanists. Common names include speedwell, bird's eye, and gypsyweed.

The species are herbaceous annuals or perennials, and also shrubs or small trees if Hebe is included. Most of the species are from the temperate Northern Hemisphere, though with some species from the Southern Hemisphere; Hebe is mostly from New Zealand.

Description

Flowers are perfect, irregular, 4-5 parted. Ovary 2-celled. 2 showy stamens are a good ID characteristic for the genus. The foliage is opposite (but alternate near the flowers), simple, with dentate or entire margins. Fruits are dry capsules containing many small seeds. Roots are fibrous, and often adventitions on the stems.

Pests and diseases

Powdery Mildew

• Peronospora grisea
• Sphaerotheca humili

Leaf Spots

• Cercospora tortipes
• Gloeosporium veronicae
• Septoria veronicae

Leaf Galls

• Sorosphaera veronicae
• Synchytrium globosum

Root Rots

• Fusarium
• Pellicularia filamentosa
• Phymatotrichum omnivorum

Stem Rots

• Pellicularia rolfsii

Leaf Smuts

• Entyloma veronicae

Nematodes

• Root knot nematode: Meliodgyne incognita

Scales

Bugs

• Fourlined Plant Bug: Poecilocapsus lineatus

Beetles

• Japanese Weevil: Pseudocneorhinus bifasciatus

Caterpillars

• Checkerspot Butterfly: Euphydryas chalcedona
• w:Grizzled Skipper.

References

• Britton, Nathaniel Lord; Addison Brown (1913). An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Volume 3 (second edition ed.). Dover Publications, inc.. pp. 199-203. 
• Ann Fowler Rhoads and Timothy A. Block (2000). The Plants of Pennsylvania: An Illustrated Manual. Anna Anisko, illustrator. Morris Arboretum, University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 676-680. 
• P. D. Strausbaugh and Earl L. Core (1977). Flora of West Virginia (Second ed.). Seneca Books, Grantsville, W. Virginia. pp. 852-859. 
• Christopher Brickell and Judith D. Zuk (1997). The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. DK Publishing. pp. 1046-1047. 
• Staff of the L. H. Bailey Hortorium (1976). Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press. pp. 1150-1152. 
• Pirone, Pascal P. (1978). Diseases & Pests of Ornamental Plants (Fifth Edition ed.). John Wiley & Sons, New York. pp. 528.