Grey Field Speedwell

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
sporangium of Peronospora agrestis parasitises live Veronica polita
Remarks: season: 2-4

Stems and leaves are sweet and edible.

Annuals. Stems diffuse, 10-30 cm, sparsely pubescent. Leaves opposite, 1-3 pairs; petiole 1-5 mm; leaf blade ovate to suborbicular, 5-11 X 4-9 mm, abaxially whitish hairy, adaxially sparsely pubescent to subglabrous, margin revolute with 2-4 deeply incised teeth per side. Racemes terminal, lax, very long; bracts alternate, sometimes basally opposite, petiolate, leaflike. Pedicel in fruit (3-)6-13(-15) mm, equalling bract or slightly shorter, recurved. Calyx 4-lobed; lobes elliptic to ovate, slightly dilated in fruit, 4-6 X 2.5-4 mm, sparsely puberulent, veins 3(-5). Corolla usually blue, rarely white, rotate, 4-7 mm in diam.; lobes orbicular to ovate. Stamens shorter than corolla. Capsule reniform, 3-4 X 4-6 mm, very slightly compressed, apically notched at an acute angle; lobes rounded, densely glandular pubescent, mixed with shorter eglandular hairs, veins inconspicuous. Style usually 1-1.6 mm, about as high as notch to slightly exserted. Seeds strongly navicular, elliptic, usually 0.9-1.6 X 0.8-1.3 mm; seed coat transversely rugose on dorsal side. Fl. Mar-Oct. 2n = 14.

Anhui, Beijing Shi, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [native in SW Asia and naturalized over most of the world].

Naturalized in waste fields; below 2200 m.

Veronica didyma Tenore var. lilacina T. Yamazaki.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Veronica polita.

Veronica polita, or grey field-speedwell, is a herbaceous flowering plant species in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It has hairy stems, is either prostrate or ascending, with dull green leaves that are one of petiolate, serrate, ovate (rounded) and usually wider than long.: 94 The flowers are small and bright blue. The plant has solitary axillary peduncles that are shorter or slightly longer than the leaves. It is native to Eurasia, possibly including the British Isles, western Asia, northern Africa, and North America, but has been introduced into suitable habitats worldwide as a weed of cultivation. It is susceptible to downy mildew disease caused by the oomycete species Peronospora agrestis.