Veronica praecox, All.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 248

42. V. praecox All. , Auct. FI. Pedem. 5 (1789).

Glandularpubescent. Stem 5-20 cm, erect, simple or branched from the base. Leaves 4-12 mm, shortly petiolate, ovate, deeply crenate-serrate. Flowers in narrow racemes, usually occupying most of stem; bracts shorter or longer than the arcuate-ascending pedicels, the lower similar to the leaves, the upper oblong-lanceolate. Calyxsegments oblong-ovate; corolla c. 3 mm in diameter, blue. Capsule c. 4 x 3-4 mm, obovate, with very shallow sinus, flat, glandular-hairy; style c. 2 mm, much exceeding the sinus. Seeds c. lx 0-75 mm, broadly elliptical, cup-shaped. 2« = 18. Dry, sandy or stony ground. S.,C.& W. Europe, extending northwards locally to S.E. Sweden. Al Au Be?B1 Bu?Co Cr Cz Da Ga Ge Gr He Ho Hs Hu It Ju Po Rm Rs (W, K, E) Si Su [Br].

V. kavusica Rech. fit, Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Math.-Nat. Kl. (Wien) 105(2, 1): 112 (1943), described from Kriti, differs in its glabrous, truncate or scarcely emarginate capsule, and seeds 1 -5-2 mm. Some plants from Kriti, however, with large seeds and amore or less truncate capsule, have glandular hairs on the capsule as in 42, and the specific distinction from the latter is not clear.