Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Grey Field Speedwell
Veronica polita
- Name also: Grey Speedwell
- Family: Figwort Family – Scrophulariaceae
- Height: 5–30 cm (2–12 in.). Stem prostrate creeping, branched at base, hairy.
- Flower: Almost regular, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in.) across. Petals 4, united, blue, corolla wheel-shaped, with a short tube. Sepals 4, united, calyx-lobes broadly ovate, tapering, 3–5-veined. Stamens 2. Pistil formed from 2 fused carpels. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils.
- Leaves: Opposite. Short-stalked, blade ovate, often shorter than broad, margins long-toothed.
- Fruit: A yellowish-brown, heart–kidney-shaped, capsule with the persistent style attached between the lobes.
- Habitat: Gardens, depots, deposits of ballast soil.
- Flowering time: June–September.
The grey field speedwell is a low, spreading, hairy annual. It requires plenty of light and warmth. The grey field speedwell is an old weed species in Eurasia. In the Åland Islands the species is an archaeophyte, elsewhere in Finland chiefly a casual garden weed and a so called ballast plant.
The grey field speedwell differs from its close relative_Veronica opaca_ in having broadly ovate, tapering calyx-lobes that are overlapping in fruit.
