Veronique with wild thyme sheets

The speedwell with wild thyme sheets ( Veronica serpyllifolia L.) is a crawling plant low, sometimes Adventice of the gardens and the cultures, rather widespread in all Europe. One knows two subspecies of them:

subsp. serpyllifolia (described here);
subsp. humifusa (Dicks.) Syme: about similar, but pushing in the mountainous areas and known under the vernacular name of speedwell lying (or delicate speedwell ).

To note that the kind Veronica , formerly classified in the order of the Scrophulariales and in the family of the Scrophulariaceae , belongs now to the order of the Lamiales and with the family of the Plantaginaceae .

Description

Ecology and habitat

Hardy perennial pushing in the waste grounds, the meadows and the cultures (in particular orchards and gardens), in plain, on acid or neutral ground. One meets it in all Western Europe, but it is rather rare in the Mediterranean regions. Flowering from March to October.

General and vegetative morphology

Herbaceous plant crawling, stoloniferous, about glabrous, with stems from 10 to 30 cm. Sheets opposed to very short petiole, ovals, with whole limb or very slightly toothed. The sheets of the inflorescence are alternate, but must be regarded as bractées.

Floral morphology

Rather loose flowers grouped hermaphrodites in racèmes. Corolla pale blue or blanchâtre very small (approximately 5 mm), with four petals striated with purplished blue. The higher petal is larger than the side ones, the narrower lower petal. Two cheesecloths and a style. Ovary supère with two carpelles. Pollination by the insects (flies).

Fruit and seeds

The fruit is a capsule broader than long, in the shape of heart and slightly hairy.

References

HYPPA

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