Common Name: PLANTAIN FAMILY
Habit: Annual to shrub, some aquatic. Leaf: basal or cauline, alternate or opposite (whorled), simple, entire to dentate or lobed, venation generally pinnate; stipules 0. Inflorescence: raceme, spike, or flowers axillary in 1--few-flowered clusters; flowers few to many, each subtended by 1 bract. Flower: unisexual or bisexual, radial or bilateral; sepals 4--5, generally fused at base; corolla 4--5-lobed, scarious or not, persistent or not, generally 2-lipped, upper lip generally 2-lobed, lower generally 3-lobed, spur present or not, tube sac-like at base or not; stamens 2 or 4, alternate corolla lobes, epipetalous, staminode 0 or 1--2, anthers opening by 2 slits; ovary superior, [1]2--4-chambered, style 1, stigma lobes 0 or 2. Fruit: generally a capsule, septicidal, loculicidal, circumscissile, or dehiscing by terminal slits or pores.
Genera In Family: +- 110 genera, +- 2000 species: worldwide, especially temperate. Note: Veronicaceae sensu Olmstead et al. Recently treated to include Callitrichaceae, Hippuridaceae, and most non-parasitic California genera of Scrophulariaceae (except Buddleja, Diplacus, Erythranthe, Limosella, Lindernia, Mimetanthe, Mimulus, Myoporum, Scrophularia, Verbascum). California Maurandya moved to Holmgrenanthe and Maurandella. Mohavea moved to Antirrhinum. Limnophila ×ludoviciana Thieret an occasional agricultural weed in rice fields. Hebe ×franciscana (Eastw.) Souster, Hebe speciosa (R. Cunn.) Andersen only cultivated.
eFlora Treatment Author: Margriet Wetherwax, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Robert W. Patterson, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Common Name: SPEEDWELL, BROOKLIME
Habit: Annual, perennial herb. Stem: erect or prostrate. Leaf: cauline, opposite, sessile to short-petioled. Inflorescence: raceme, terminal or axillary, or flowers 1 in axils; bracts small, alternate. Flower: sepals generally 4(5), +- free, generally unequal; corolla +- radial, +- rotate, generally 4-lobed, tube << lobes, upper lobe wide (perhaps formed by fusion of upper pair), blue or violet to white; stamens 2, exserted; stigma unlobed. Fruit: flattened perpendicular to septum, generally obcordate, loculicidal and septicidal.
Etymology: (Named for Saint Veronica) Note: Veronica beccabunga L., Veronica chamaedrys L. not in California; Veronica filiformis Sm., Veronica hederifolia L. occasionally as lawn weeds. Veronica biloba L., native to eastern Europe, Asia, a waif in southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, Modoc Plateau, differs from Veronica persica in ways including shorter styles (< 1 mm).
eFlora Treatment Author: Margriet Wetherwax
Unabridged Reference: Albach et al. 2005 Amer J Bot 92:297--315; Olmstead et al. 2001 Amer J Bot 88:348--361