Veronica chamaedrys L.
germander speedwell
Hairy perennial; stems lax or decumbent, rooting at nodes and sometimes forming a loose mat, ascending to c. 30 cm; internodes with dense bifarious hairs. Lvs sessile or with petiole 0.5-3-(7) mm long. Lamina 1.2-3.5 × 1-2.5 cm, ovate to elliptic, coarsely serrate or crenate-serrate, hairy beneath, becoming glabrous above; base rounded or ± subcordate; apex obtuse. Racemes to c. 15 cm long, slender, hairy, axillary and opposite but superficially appearing terminal; pedicels usually 5-8 mm long, slender, much > bracts. Bracts ± elliptic, small. Calyx 3-5 mm long, accrescent; lobes narrowly oblong elliptic or narrow-elliptic, hairy, obtuse or subacute; margin prominently long-ciliate. Corolla 10-13 mm diam., bright blue with white central eye and fine dark veins. Capsule c. 6 mm wide; lobes divergent, with raised nerves and ciliate margins. Seed not seen.
N.: Toatoa (Opotiki District, Bay of Plenty), Trentham (Upper Hutt); S.: 1 collection from Southland; St.: Halfmoon Bay.
Temperate Eurasia 1875
Probably a cultivation escape, roadsides, streamsides, forest margin.
FL Oct-Jan.
Germander speedwell is occasionally cultivated and one specimen (CHR 174117, Weston, near Oamaru, Healy, 19.10.1966) has smaller lvs and shorter infls than in wild material. In these respects it resembles plants from open habitats in Europe.
