Besseya Alpina
Veronica besseya, commonly known as Alpine coral drops[1] and Alpine kitten tails, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the genus Veronica in the family Plantaginaceae.[2]
besseya alpina
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Veronica besseya is quite diminutive, growing 2-8 inches in height in the alpine tundra of the Rocky Mountains. Leaves and stem range from glabrous (lacking hairs) to densely pilose (with long hairs).[3]
After its discovery, Veronica besseya was first named Synthyris alpina by Asa Gray. In 1903, it was renamed Besseya alpina by Axel Rydberg.[5] However, it was proposed in 2004 that all Besseya species actually belong in the genus Veronica, the speedwells.[6]
Veronica besseya is a minute and exotic addition to the alpine tundra. It grows from 2-8 inches tall and can be quite hairy, as shown here, or glabrous (not hairy). As the map below indicates, Veronica besseya is found in just a few western states.
Veronica besseya is one of the many plants that Charles Parry discovered for science. He did so in 1861 in the "headwaters of South Clear Creek [Colorado]". The plant was at first named Synthyris alpina by Asa Gray. Per Axel Rydberg renamed it Besseya alpina in 1903. In 2004, Albach, Martínez-Ortega, Fischer, and Chase proposed that all Besseya species belong in the genus Veronica. See JSTOR.
Species treated as Besseya by P. A. Rydberg (1903), F. W. Pennell (1933), and C. G. Schaack (1983) are monophyletic in Synthyris. The bilabiate flowers and more coriaceous leaves characteristic of the besseyas are derived in Synthyris. Dissected leaves are convergent in Synthyris, evolving independently in S. pinnatifida and the clade consisting of S. canbyi, S. dissecta, and S. lanuginosa, in association with shifts into alpine and treeline environments (L. Hufford and M. McMahon 2004). Synthyris cordata and S. reniformis are low elevation species of moist forests that uniquely share decumbent infructescences, an apparent specialization for seed dispersal by ants. 041b061a72