Veronica orientalis Wender.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘A native of the Levant: it was cultivated in 1759, by Miller, and is a pretty little herbaceous plant, growing about a foot in height, with many slender branching stalks.  The flowers are delicate: they come out in May, lasting a considerable time in succession.  It is quite hardy, and may be kept either in a pot, which we prefer, or planted in the ground, in which case it attains to a much greater size.  It will grow in almost any soil, and is propagated by division of the roots, for which the spring is the best season.’  [LBC no.419/1820].

History at Camden Park

Included in hand-written lists in a copy of the 1850 catalogue held at the Mitchell Library, inscribed on the front Wm. Macarthur, 23rd Dec 1854.  [ML 635.9m].

Notes

Another, perhaps less likely possibility is Veronica austriaca L., synonym Veronica orientalis Willd. from southern Europe.  This is a fully hardy herbaceous perennial with deeply cut, ovate leaves and axillary racemes of large blue flowers in summer.  [RHSD, Hortus].