Four former species of the genus Besseya, now Veronica, are found in one or more of the Four Corners states. Veronica besseya is found in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico and is distinct in its minute size, red/purple flowers, and sole habitat of alpine tundra. Veronica wyomingensis is found in a few northern counties of Colorado and Utah. Veronica plantaginea is widely distributed in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona and overlaps the limited range of Veronica ritteriana, which is a Colorado endemic found only in a few counties in southwest Colorado.

    The last two species (the species shown on this page) are quite similar, having almost identical measurements for plant height, leaf length and width, flowers, seeds, etc. The primary characteristic used by professional floras to separate the two species is the color of their corollas; V. ritteriana corolla is said to be yellow; V. plantaginea corolla is said to be white. However, as the photographs on this page indicate, the yellow is very light and the white is commonly cream-colored. In bright sunlight the yellow corolla looks white.

    In addition to color, the two are supposed to be distinguished by the hairiness of their corolla and the relative length of the lobes of their petals and the structure of their of their calyx.

    One more detail that helps separate the two species is elevation. V. plantaginea has an official range slightly lower (5,500' to 11,000') than V. ritteriana (7,000' to 12,500'), but in my experience (in the Four Corners area at least) V. plantaginea is found mostly from 7,500' to 9,500' and V. ritteriana is found from 9,500' to over 12,000'.

    In my experience, however, plants can have characteristics of both V. ritteriana and V. plantaginea. For instance, the plants on this page from Ryman Creek have white flowers and should, therefore, be Veronica plantaginea, but they possess two of the other four distinguishing characteristics of Veronica ritteriana.

Montane, subalpine, alpine. Meadows. Summer.
Ryman Creek Trail, July 8, 2019.

Since both Kitten Tails shown on this page bloom early and tend to grow scattered in low to high meadows, often among much taller or showier plants, they are known to few hikers.  Find them and take a close look and you will see them to be a fascinating member of the Plantain Family. Their tiny white or yellow flowers cluster tightly at the top of sturdy stems.

On the 1820 Long Expedition, Edwin James collected this plant for science, and he named the plant Veronica plantaginea. James collected as the Expedition made the first recorded climb of what we now call Pikes Peak, but which was then named, "James' Peak".

Per axel Rydberg renamed the plant Besseya plantaginea in 1903.

In 2004, Alback, Martinez-Ortega, Fischer, and Chase presented evidence that all Besseya species do indeed belong in the genus Veronica, a genus which a number of botanists (certainly James) in the past had seen was very closely related to Besseya. See JSTOR.

Click to see Veronica besseya, the tiny alpine cousin of Veronica ritteriana.

Montane, subalpine, alpine. Meadows. Summer.
Ryman Creek Trail, June 10, 2016.

It is clear from the beginning of the growth of these Veronicas that something is unusual, cute, and strange.

Montane, subalpine, alpine. Meadows. Summer.
Ryman Creek Trail, July 8, 2019.

Scores of minute flowers (4-8 millimeters long) are densely crowded into a flower head about 5 centimeters tall. The green calyx is quite visible but the corolla petals are difficult to make out, even with a 10x hand lens, because they are compressed into a tight cylinder by the calyx and by the presence of so many other flowers squeezed next to them.

Montane, subalpine, alpine. Meadows. Summer.
Ryman Creek Trail, June 13, 2007.

After flowers fade, the seed stalks elongate.