Veronica scutellata

It is a herbaceous (non-woody) perennial speedwell that produces a creeping stem that roots at its nodes then ascends to flower, to {{convert|60|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length, using other vegetation as a scaffold. The paired leaves alternate in direction and are very narrow and pointed, stalkless, somewhat rigid, often with a yellowed or reddened hue, with obscure teeth (or none), and curling under at the edges; it initially rises with its leaves vertical to push through vegetation and later opens them sideways to anchor its position. The alternating floral spikes emerge from the stem with the base of the leaf stalks, each a sparse array of several flowers, the flowers themselves on long thin stalks. The flowers are small ({{convert|3-7|mm|in|abbr=on}} diam), pale lilac, pale blue or whitish, although sometimes strongly coloured, with accentuated veins, which at maturity form flat capsules 3–5 mm long, deeply divided at the top. Although typically lacking in much hair (var. scutella), some forms are densely hairy usually with a mixture of glandular and non-glandular hairs, especially in drier habitats (var. villosa).

[http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Veronica_scutellata Flora of North America]

[https://fermanagh.bsbi.org/veronica-scutellata-l Farmanagh Species Account]

{{cite book |title=Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3, p. 468 |author=Peter Sell & Gina Murrell}}

Photographic examples can be seen on [https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61112/browse_photos?quality_grade=research iNaturalist].

It is native to Europe (but rare near the Mediterranean {{cite book |title=Flora Europaea, vol. 3, p. 247 |author=Tutin}}), North Asia, Most of North America and Algeria, and is not indicated as introduced to any country.

Its habitat is marshes, shores, water banks and a wide range of other wet places, particularly acidic. In America its altitude range is 0–1800(2400) m, in Turkey it is found along the north at 0–500 m.{{cite book |title=Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, vol. 6, p. 753 |author=Davis}}

{{Commons|Veronica scutellata}}

• [https://fermanagh.bsbi.org/veronica-scutellata-l Fermanagh Species Account] (Ireland)
• [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?7177,7600,7613 Jepson Manual Treatment]
• [http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Veronica&Species=scutellata Washington Burke Museum]
• [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Veronica+scutellata Photo gallery]

{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q159725}}

scutellata

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

{{Plantaginaceae-stub}}