Veronicastrum virginicum 'DIANE' Culver's root

Veronicastrum

The genus Veronicastrum is a small group of perennial and fairly robust herbaceous plants comprising 5-6 species. They are known for their upright habit and whorled leaves that create a tiered silhouette reminiscent of certain shrubby species, often compared to chaste tree or hemp. The Czech Perennial Growers’ Association selected the genus Veronicastrum as Perennial of the Season in 2016. These plants grow in North America and eastern Asia, most commonly at woodland edges, in prairies and in moist meadows. In American tradition some species are known as Culver’s root, because early herbals mention a physician named Dr Culver who prepared a bitter tonic from their roots. The inflorescences consist of one terminal spike accompanied by several lateral ones, giving the plants a distinctive architecture and making them highly attractive to pollinating insects. The best-known and most widely grown species in gardens are the Siberian and the Virginian Veronicastrum, both named after their native regions.

Veronicastrum virginicum is native to North America, where it grows from Ontario to Texas, most often in lightly moist meadows, at woodland margins and in naturally nutrient-rich prairies. The species was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and became one of the first North American plants to enter European botany. In early American herbals it appears as a medicinal plant, for example in the work of physician and botanist William P. C. Barton (1786–1856), who described it under the former name Leptandra virginica and noted its tonic effects. In gardens it is the most commonly grown species of the genus, valued for its slender, naturally elegant habit and long flowering period, which gives plantings structure, presence and lightness. Thanks to its height and tiered leaf arrangement it acts as a natural vertical element that combines well with taller perennials, ornamental grasses and other plants suited to similar prairie-like conditions.