Veronica polita Fr.
grey speedwell
Hairy annual; stems much-branched, decumbent, to c. 15 cm long, densely covered with crisped hairs, not rooting at nodes. Petioles to 5 mm long. Lamina 3-8 × 3-8 mm, ovate, often broadly so, or suborbicular, coarsely crenate-serrate, often glabrate above, rather densely covered with crisped hairs below; base truncate or nearly so; apex obtuse. Fls axillary, solitary, in axils of lvs similar to vegetative lvs; pedicels c. 5 mm long, to 8 mm at fruiting, mostly > subtending lvs. Calyx 2-3 mm long, hairy or glabrous; lobes broadly ovate, prominently ciliate, obtuse or rounded. Corolla c. 6 mm diam., ± uniformly blue. Capsule c. 4 mm wide, not deeply lobed; nerves usually inconspicuous; lobes obtuse, ± erect, rounded on outer margin, densely hairy with straight glandular and short curly eglandular hairs. Seed broadly elliptic, concave on 1 face, irregularly transversely ridged on convex side.
N.: Auckland, Palmerston North; S.: Riccarton (Christchurch), Poolburn, (Maniototo, Otago).
Temperate Eurasia, N. Africa 1940
Garden weed, and in lucerne, apparently very rare.
FL Oct-Apr.
The name grey speedwell is presumably a reference to the lf and stem colour caused by their dense hairiness, for the sp. is generally more hairy than its close relative, V. agrestis. However, it is best distinguished by the characters noted in the key.
