Germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)

Common Names: Bird's-eye speedwell

Description: This plant has a history of medicinal uses in which this plant contains a certain amount of astringency, and with an infusion of its leaves was used to cure coughs, while the juice of the fresh plant was boiled into a syrup with honey for asthma.

Habit: Herbaceous perennial, 4-12 in in height.

Leaves: Opposite, ovate, sessile, 1.5 cm long and 0.8-2 cm wide, coarsely serrate with rounded teeth.

Stems: Nearly erect; 1-3 dm. tall; spreading hairs.

Flowers: Blue in color, inflorescence of loose racemes on long peduncles arising in the leaf axils, calyx of 4 sepals, corolla is blue, 9-12 mm wide, 4-lobed, the upper lobe the largest.

Fruit and seeds: Seed pod, 3-3.5 mm, flattened, heart-shaped, notched at the tip, hairy and with fringed margins, seeds about 6 per chamber.

Habitat: Native to Europe. Found in disturbed ground, lawns and gardens.

Reproduction: By seed and stem fragments.

Similar species: Ivyleaf speedwell (Veronica hederifolia); Birdeye speedwell (Veronica persica); Gray field speedwell (Veronica polita); Thymeleaf speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia).

Monitoring and rapid response: Hand-pulling; effectively controlled using any of the several readily available general use herbicides.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Connecticut Botanical Society, USDA PLANTS Database and the University of British Columbia.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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