E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Veronica persica Poir.
bird's-eye speedwell (birdeye speedwell)
Plantaginaceae (Mare's-tail family)
(Previously in Scrophulariaceae)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Bryan Kelly-McArthur  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #74349)

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Distribution of Veronica persica
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Species Information

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General:
Annual herb from a short taproot; stems prostrate to loosely ascending, often decumbent at the base and sometimes rooting at the lower nodes, 10-40 cm long/tall, simple or branched at the base, soft-hairy.
Leaves:
Opposite, short-stalked, broadly egg-shaped to elliptic, 1-2.5 cm long, coarsely blunt-toothed, hairy.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open, terminal, bracted, lax raceme of several to many stalked flowers, the bracts alternate, leaflike at the lower nodes, gradually reduced upward, the stalks 15-30 mm long, recurved in fruit, longer than the bracts; corollas blue, saucer-shaped, (5) 8-12 mm across, irregularly 4-lobed, the lower lobe often paler or white, narrower than the others; calyces 4-8 mm long, deeply 4-lobed, the lobes broadly lanceolate, veiny, fringed with long hairs; styles 1.5-3 mm long, longer than the lobes of the capsule; stamens 2.
Fruits:
Capsules, 3-5 mm long, 5-8 mm wide, flattened, broadly notched at the tip and lobed to not beyond the middle, the lobes divergent and sharply keeled, fringed with long hairs; seeds 5 to 11 per chamber, cup-shaped, cross-wrinkled, 1-2 mm long.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Moist to dry, grassy roadsides, lawns, fields and waste places in the lowland and steppe zones; infrequent in S BC; introduced from Eurasia.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Pocilla persica (Poir.) Fourr.
Veronica buxbaumii Ten., non F.W. Schmidt
Veronica persica var. aschersoniana (Lehm.) B. Boivin
Veronica persica var. corrensiana (Lehm.) B. Boivin

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References