Speedwells
Plantain Family - Plantaginaceae
Brooklime Veronica beccabungaNative throughout temperate Europe and most of temperate Asia and northern Africa. A plant of wet places. Flowers bright blue in spikes in the upper leaf axils. Whole plant hairless, the stems creeping and readily rooting at the nodes to form low, sprawling mats. Leaves broadly rounded.
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Blue Water Speedwell Veronica anagallis-aquatica
Native throughout Europe, Asia and much of Africa. Stems upright, to 60cm in height. Flowers pale-blue to lilac with darker veins, in long racemes emerging in pairs from opposite leaf bases. Flower stalks erecto-patent in fruit and at least as long as their bracts (usually longer) at flowering time.
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Wall Speedwell Veronica arvensis
Native throughout Europe, North Africa and western Asia. In disturbed ground and shady places.
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Common Field Speedwell Veronica persica
Native to the Transcaucasus and Iran, but now a cosmopolitan weed of cultivated ground. Flowers blue with a paler, almost white lower petal, although some early-flowering forms can have large, all blue flowers, or rarely pink. Although a recent introduction, this species has almost completely ousted our native field speedwells. All field speedwells have the flowers solitary in the leaf axils, not clustered into spikes. Told from the other field speedwells by the seed capsules, the two halves of which are very widely divergent.
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Grey Field Speedwell Veronica polita
Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to Central Asia, Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula. Flowers small, all blue. Leaves usually a rather dull, greyish-green or sometimes yellowish-green. All field speedwells have the flowers solitary in the leaf axils, not clustered into spikes. Seed capsule halves narrowly divergent and bearing a mix of curled, non-glandular hairs and a few glandular hairs. Sepals broadly oval.
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Ivy-leaved Speedwell Veronica hederifolia
Native throughout Europe, North Africa and western Asia. In disturbed ground and shady places.
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Pale Speedwell Veronica cymbalaria
Native throughout the Mediterranean Region to the Middle East. Frequent in shady places.
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