Description: Along the coast of Northern Ireland this vigorous shrub (one of the so-called 'woody veronicas') with its thick oval leaves and spikes of brilliant blue flowers is common, locally abundant, in gardens and garden hedges. Although fertile, self-sown individuals are very rare and the plant cannot be described as generally naturalised. It is a hybrid of two New Zealand species and all our plants seem to belong to the selected variety called 'Blue Gem'.

All names: Hebe elliptica x speciosa (H. x franciscana) (Eastw.) Souster; Hebe x franciscana (Eastw.) Souster; Hebe elliptica x speciosa; Hebe elliptica auct. non (G.Forster) Pennell; Hebe speciosa auct. non (R.Cunn. ex Cunn.) Cockayne

Distribution Map from NBN: Hebe elliptica x speciosa at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Hebe elliptica x speciosa at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.