7579.000 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, who wiped the sweat from Christ's face

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

Zimbabwe: 4 taxa.