Veronica chamaedrys

Veronica chamaedrys can grow to {{convert|20|cm|in|abbr=on}} tall,{{cite web|url=https://first-nature.com/flowers/veronica-chamaedrys.php|title=Veronica chamaedrys L. - Germander Speedwell|access-date=Jan 30, 2024}} but is frequently shorter, with stems that are hairy only along two opposite sides. The leaves are in opposite pairs, triangular and crenate, sessile or with short petioles. The flowers are deep blue with a zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical) four-lobed corolla, {{convert|8-12|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} wide. The capsules are wider than they are long.{{cite book | last=Stace | first=C. A. |authorlink = Stace, C. A.| year=2010 |title=New Flora of the British Isles | url=https://archive.org/details/newflorabritishi00stac | url-access=limited | edition=Third |publisher=Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, U.K. | page=[https://archive.org/details/newflorabritishi00stac/page/n485 450] | isbn=9780521707725 }}{{rp|591}}

The blossoms of this plant wilt very quickly upon picking, which has given it the ironic name "Männertreu", or "men's faithfulness" in German.Friedhelm Sauerhoff, Pflanzennamen im Vergleich: Benennungstheorie und Etymologie [Plant names compared: theory of naming and etymology] (Stuttgart, Germany: Franz Steiner, 2001), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7g9T2mFMt38C&pg=PA206 page 206]: Das bestätigt auch E. Mießner, wenn er zum Gamander-Ehrenpreis feststellt: "Da die Blüten leicht abfallen, auch deutscher Spottname 'Männertreu'..." (E. Mießner also confirms that, when he observes about Veronica chamaedrys: "Since the blossoms easily fall off, [it is] also [known by] the derisive German nickname, 'men's faithfulness'...")

Veronica chamaedrys is a common, hardy turf so-called weed when it invades turf and lawns. It creeps along the ground, spreading by sending down roots at the stem nodes. It is propagated both by seed and stem fragments. Leaves may defoliate in the summer and winter but the stems will grow again next season. Unlike at least five other common speedwell species, such as corn speedwell (Veronica arvensis),other Turf Weeds at Virginia Tech: corn speedwell, Veronica arvensis http://turfweeds.contentsrvr.net/category_detail.pg_24.vesh {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831141027/http://turfweeds.contentsrvr.net/category_detail.pg_24.vesh |date=2011-08-31 }} the leaves are opposite on both the upper and lower parts of the plant.Turf Weeds at Virginia Tech; germander speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys: http://turfweeds.contentsrvr.net/category_detail.pg_17.vesh {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831135633/http://turfweeds.contentsrvr.net/category_detail.pg_17.vesh |date=2011-08-31 }}Weed ID & info; Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University and Ronald Calhoun: http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/germander_speedwell_13/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515205057/http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/germander_speedwell_13 |date=2013-05-15 }} See Veronica for special weed control considerations.

The specific name chamaedrys is a combining form meaning "low" or "on the ground" derived from ancient Greek.{{cite book | last=Klein | first=Ernest |author-link= |date=1966 | title=A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language |url= | location=New York |publisher=Elsevier |page=265 |isbn=}}

This species is native to Europe.{{cite web |url=http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/scrophularia/veron/verochav.jpg |title = Den virtuella floran – stängd för ombyggnad}} It is found on other continents as an introduced species.

Veronica chamaedrys has been used in traditional Austrian herbal medicine internally (as tea) for disorders of the nervous system, respiratory tract, cardiovascular system, and metabolism.{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007 |pmid=23770053 |pmc=3791396 |title=Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine—An unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |volume=149 |issue=3 |pages=750–71 |year=2013 |last1=Vogl |first1=Sylvia |last2=Picker |first2=Paolo |last3=Mihaly-Bison |first3=Judit |last4=Fakhrudin |first4=Nanang |last5=Atanasov |first5=Atanas G. |last6=Heiss |first6=Elke H. |last7=Wawrosch |first7=Christoph |last8=Reznicek |first8=Gottfried |last9=Dirsch |first9=Verena M. |last10=Saukel |first10=Johannes |last11=Kopp |first11=Brigitte }} In 18th century Britain, the plant had the reputation of being a cure for gout as well as being popular for making tea, the latter being so prevalent that the plant was nearly eradicated from London during the 18th century.{{Cite book|title=Flora Britannica: supported by common ground|last1=Mabey|first=Richard|others=Bob Gibbons and Gareth Lovett Jones (photographers)|publisher=Chatto & Windus|isbn=978-1856193771|oclc=805221553|year = 1996}}

{{Commons|Veronica chamaedrys}}

• [https://fermanagh.bsbi.org/veronica-chamaedrys-l Fermanagh Species Account] - Biological account from Farmanagh, Ireland
• [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?7177,7600,7606 Jepson Manual Treatment]
• [http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Veronica&Species=chamaedrys Washington Burke Museum]
• [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Veronica+chamaedrys Photo gallery]

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chamaedrys

Category:Flora of temperate Asia

Category:Flora of Europe

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus