Hedge Hebe - Veronica x franciscana
Favourite Photos
Species Description
Widely grown and sometimes self-seeds and becomes naturalised or persists after planting; usually as the blue-purple cultivar 'Blue Gem'.
Stace 4:
Veronica x franciscana Eastw. (Hebe x franciscana (Eastw.) Souster, Veronica x lewisii auct. non J.B. Armstr., V. elliptica auct. non G. Forst., V. speciosa auct non. R. Cunn. ex A. Cunn.; V. elliptica x V. speciosa) - Hedge Hebe.
Shrub to 1.5m, leaf-bud sinuses present; leaves 3-9 x 1-2.5cm, oblanceolate to obovate or oblong-obovate, subacute to rounded at apex, subglabrous to hairy at margin; racemes 3-8cm; corolla usually violet-blue, sometimes pinkish-purple. Neophyte-naturalised; on rocky and rough ground mostly coastal; well naturalised over much of British Isles, mainly in West; garden origin. By far the most grown and commonest naturalised taxon, and often used for seaside hedging in South West England. Cv. Blue Gem, with obtuse to rounded leaf-apex and violet-blue flowers, is the most widely grown.
Key:
Leaf-buds with distinct sinuses; leaves more or less petiolate - Leaves ≥(2.5)3 x 0.7cm; racemes mostly >3cm - Leaves oblanceolate to obovate or oblong-obovate, about 2-4x as long as wide, subacute to rounded at apex; racemes <10cm; corolla usually blue or pink to purple