Derived from Veronica combined with -aster, a suffix meaning not quite the same as.

Erect perennial herbs. Leaves simple, whorled, lanceolate. Flowers in terminal erect spikes. Calyx 4-5- lobed. Corolla with a narrow tube, the lobes spreading. Stamens 2. Fruit an ovoid capsule.

Grown for the erect, delicate flower spikes.

Cuttings and seed.

Differs from Veronica in having leaves in whorls of 3-5 and the tube of the corolla much longer than the lobes.

2 species from NE Asia and NE America.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Scrophulariaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.