Bird's Eye Speedwell (Veronica persica)

Bird's-Eye Speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys, is one of my favorite early spring flowers. The beautiful little blue blossoms are startling in neglected grassy areas and so lovely up close.

There are several other speedwells that grow as weeds in grassy areas, but all have tiny flowers. These are over 1/4 inch across, which for a speedwell is huge. It's native to Europe.

You can tell the genus by the petals. There are four, but the lower one is smaller than the other three. It used to be placed in the figwort family, but is now in the plantains. Lots of restructuring going on there.

Here you can see the hairy stem and leaves. The hairs grow, according to Eastman, in two long lines below each leaf, to discourage crawling bugs. You can also see the way the heart-shaped, toothed, upper leaves clasp the stem. The flower has a long stem, and two stamens with bluish tips. I believe the pollen itself is blue as well.

According to Eastman, the flowers effectively change sexes as they grow. This one, with the obvious stamens, is male. It would already have been female, and if it was fertilized, the seeds would be forming now, while it's still releasing pollen to spread to another plant.

The flowers close at night, and stay closed in rain, and can self-fertilize if the rain lasts too long.

In the center top of the photo above you can also see a seed capsule. It is heart shaped and has many, tiny seeds inside, or will, when it's mature.

There are dark spots on the leaves, which may be a fungus specific to Veroinicas called septoria leaf spot.

The name Speedwell either refers to it's use as an astringent (for closing wounds) and a diuretic which also loosens phlegm and causes sweating; or to a tradition of giving the flower to travelers, and wishing them "speed well", though this seems odd as the flowers wilt or fall off as soon as they are picked.  The whole plant is edible but bitter. It's a flavoring in vermouth and absinthe.

Veronica is for St. Veronica, the woman who supposedly wiped Jesus's face as he carried the cross, then opened her dirty cloth and saw his image on it. Perhaps the flowers are thought to look like a face, with the two blue stamen as eyes. Chamaedrys means ground-oak.



Here you can see how the corona, (the four fused petals with the stamens attached fall from the plant. The four sepals remain with the pistil on the flower stem, and shield the seed as it develops.