Thursday 1 November 2012

FFF50 - GERMANDER SPEEDWELL

Veronica is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae, with about 500 species. Taxonomy for this genus is currently being reanalysed, with the genus Hebe and the related Australasian genera Derwentia, Detzneria, Chionohebe, Heliohebe, Leonohebe and Parahebe included by many botanists. Common names include speedwell, bird's eye, and gypsyweed.

The species are herbaceous annuals or perennials, and also shrubs or small trees if Hebe is included. Most of the species are from the temperate Northern Hemisphere, though with some species from the Southern Hemisphere.

Veronica chamaedrys (Germander Speedwell, Bird's-eye Speedwell - shown above) is a species of Veronica, native to Europe and northern Asia. It is found on other continents as an introduced species. It is a herbaceous perennial plant with hairy stems and leaves. It can grow to 25 cm tall, but is normally about 12 cm tall. The flowers are blue, with a four-lobed corolla. The form of the leaves are similar to white deadnettle. The 2 to 4 mm wide blossoms of this plant wilt very quickly upon picking, which has given it the ironic name "Männertreu", or "men's faithfulness" in German.

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9 comments:

  1. Pretty blue flowers. Its common name is interesting.

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  2. Oh I love that Persian speedwell so much!
    beautiful tiny flowers!

    xoxo, Juliana | PJ’ Happies :) | PJ’ Ecoproject

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  3. the German name made me smile.:p
    the color is beautiful.

    Wrinkled Pink Flower

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  4. the color of these speedwells is the way I picture heaven!

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  5. The color of this Speedwell is amazing. I do love blue.
    Have a great weekend!

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