Voorkomen en standplaats van Veronica praecox All. en V. verna L. in Nederland

A few years ago, Veronica praecox en V. verna were supposed to be extinct in the Netherlands, being recorded for the last time in 1935 and 1947, respectively. In 1974 both were refound, however. Formerly, V. praecox occurred on arable land in the Yssel valley in the surroundings of Deventer and at some localities south of Maastricht. The latter connect with localities in Belgium; the former constitute a kind of ‘outpost area’ northwest of the border of the species’ serried area. Possibly V. praecox, together with a few other species, can be looked upon as a ‘xerothermic relic’ there. Its habitat on the only recent locality near Gorssel (south of Deventer), where in the vicinity of V. praecox amongst others Vicia lathyroides, Saxifraga tridactylites and Holosteum umbellatum occur, is in accordance with that in Central Europe. V. verna, one of the scarce irano-turanic elements in the West and Central European flora and very rare in most of western Europe, was recorded from some scattered outposts in the Dutch coastal area; recently it is only known from Aerdenhout near Haarlem. It is found there on slightly eroded spots on a sunny western slope in the old inner dunes poor in lime. Its habitat is obviously influenced by men and animals. The community in which V. verna occurs is a slightly ruderalized Tortulo-Phleetum without lichens ( table 1).