Veronica cana - Hoary Speedwell

Hoary Speedwell is a perennial herb, 20-25 cm tall. Stems are erect or rising up, simple, densely hairy with gray-white multicellular hairs. Leaves are 4 or 5 pairs; lower leaves leaf-stalk 1-1.5 cm; leaf blade shallowly heart-shaped to triangular-round, smaller than upper leaves; upper leaves shorter leaf-stalkd, leaf blade ovate-round to ovate, 2.5-4 X 1.5-3 cm; all leaves papery, sparsely with gray-white hairs, base rounded, margin coarsely toothed, tip mostly blunt. Flower racemes are usually paired, borne in leaf-axils from uppermost leaves, 3-7 cm, lax, axis and flower-stalks hairy with multicellular hairs; flower-cluster-stalk 1-2 cm; bracts broadly linear, almost as long as flower-stalk. Flower are white, pinwheel-shaped, about 1.2 cm in diameter; tube less than 1.5 mm; throat hairy. Sepal-cup is 4-lobed; sepals lanceshaped, 3-5 mm, nearly equal, hairless or sparsely fringed with hairs. Capsule is triangular-flabelliform, strongly compressed, about 5 X 9-10 mm, fringed with hairs, notched. Hoary Speedwell is found in forests at altitudes of 2000-3500 m, in the Himalayas, from Kashmir to Nepal, NE India, Bhutan, China. Flowering: June.