Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Wall Speedwell
Veronica arvensis
- Family: Figwort Family – Scrophulariaceae
- Height: 5–25 cm (2–10 in.). Stem erect–ascending, pubescent.
- Flower: Almost regular, 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 in.) across. Corolla wheel-shaped with a short tube, petals 4, united, blue. Sepals 4, united. Stamens 2. Pistil formed from 2 fused carpels. Inflorescence a long raceme.
- Leaves: Opposite. Lower leaves short-stalked, upper stalkless. Blade triangular to ovate, with blunt or shallowly cordate base and saw-like margins.
- Fruit: A flat, heart-shaped capsule with glandular hairs along the margins.
- Habitat: Dry meadows, grassy rock outcrops by fields, cultivated land, fallows, gardens.
- Flowering time: May–August.
The wall speedwell is a hairy, erect or ascending annual. Its flower-stalks are shorter than their subtending bracts. The flower is small and inconspicuous, although the plant relies exclusively on sexual reproduction. In Finland the wall speedwell is an archaeophyte which probably arrived with early agriculture.
The wall speedwell is similar to the spring speedwell (V. verna) both in its habit and its distribution. It is, though, somewhat more common in fields, than the latter. Furthermore, the upper leaves of the wall speedwell are entire, whereas those of the spring speedwell are pinnately divided.
