Family: Plantaginaceae
Veronica hederifolia
Citation:
L., Sp. Pl. 13 (1753), as "hederaefolia".
Synonymy: Veronica hederaefolia Common name: Ivy-leaved speedwell.
Description:
Procumbent annual, with the main branches 10-20 or more cm long, with scattered long weak spreading eglandular hairs on the branches, leaves and rhachis, and dense lines of shorter curled eglandular hairs on the branches, rhachis and pedicels; leaves opposite, connected across the node by a ridge, with a slender petiole 2-17 mm long, the blade broad- to transverse-ovate, 5-14 x 5-18 mm, truncate to rounded at the base, with 1-3 pairs of broad rounded teeth, the apical lobe very broad, palmately veined.
Racemes terminal, lax, 10- or more-flowered, the bracts like the leaves in size and shape, the pedicels 5-20 mm long, shorter than or equal to the bract; sepals cordate-ovate, unequal, 2-3.5 mm long, lengthening to 4-5 mm and erect in fruit, long-eglandular-ciliate; corolla blue (or lilac, at least in Europe), with lobes c. 2 mm long, obtuse; anthers broad, 0.7-1 mm long; ovary glabrous, the style terminal, the stigma 0.15-0.2 mm diam.
Capsules not compressed, subglobular, c. 3.5 mm long, c. 4 mm diam., 4-lobed to globular (when seed-set poor), glabrous, with the persistent style 0.5-0.8 mm long.
| Flowering branch, leaf, opened flower, fruit and seed.
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Image source: fig. 596G in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Published illustration:
Butcher (1961) A new illustrated British flora 2:fig. 1056; RossCraig (1966) Drawings Brit. Pl. 22:t. 39.
Distribution:
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Gardens and waste places.
S.Aust.: NL, MU, SL, KI, SE. N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas. Native to Europe.
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Conservation status:
naturalised
Flowering time: late July — Oct.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Taxonomic notes:
The S.Aust. material does not fall readily into the subspecies distinguished for example in Flora Europaea (1972) 3:250.
Author:
Not yet available
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