Ivyleaf speedwell

Scientific name: Veronica hederifolia L.

Family: Plantaginaceae

MORPHOLOGY

Growth habit and size: Annual, herbaceous, hairy plant with a fasciculate root; height 5-10 cm.

Stem: Prostrate-ascending stems.

Leaves: Leaves are petiolate, sparsely hairy, subrounded, with a length similar to the width, generally with 3-5(7) lobes, the central one wider (about twice as wide as the lateral ones), with a crenate-serrated margin; upper leaves alternate, lower leaves opposite.

Flowers: Solitary flowers in the axils of floral bracts, which are similar to the leaves; heart-shaped calyx, with triangular, ciliated lobes; pale blue corolla with whitish throat. The fruit peduncles have a single line of hairs, 2-4 times the length of the calyx. It blooms from December to May.

Fruits and seeds: The fruits are capsules with 4 lobes, slightly emarginate, glabrescent, with very short and sparse glandular hairs; they contain up to 4 deeply grooved seeds, ribbed, with a whitish elaiosome in the groove.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

It grows throughout Italy from sea level up to 1,800 m. It grows in uncultivated areas, ruins, gardens, roadsides, walls, and is a weed in cereals and numerous herbaceous and arboreal crops, from which it subtracts nitrogen.

Photo: Provided under the free license of Saxifraga and Jan van der Straaten, and kindly provided by Claudio Farinati.