Veronica chamaedrys L., Germander Speedwell

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

This very familiar woodland margin, hedgebank, rough grassland, road- and lane-side, prostrate or decumbent, slender perennial, up to 30 cm high, Veronica species is immediately recognised by the two distinct rows of long whitish hairs along the opposite sides of the stem, which distinguishes it from the similar V. officinalis (Heath Speedwell) and V. montana (Wood Speedwell), which have hairs all round the stem (Garrard & Streeter 1983). The beautiful and relatively large, blue flowers, with an obvious white 'eye', are reminiscent of blue eyes, a feature which is frequently alluded to in many alternative English common names of the plant throughout the British Isles, eg 'Billy Bright Eye' and 'Birdseye Speedwell' (Grigson 1955, 1987). The opposite leaves are almost sessile, the very short petioles margined with long fine hairs, the blades oval and coarsely or crenately, deeply toothed (Butcher 1961; Hutchinson 1972).

This creeping, stoloniferous perennial is the most common and widespread terrestrial or aquatic Speedwell throughout the whole of B & I. While it is definitely most commonly found in areas of limestone geology and soils, Germander Speedwell achieves this degree of dispersal and presence through having a wide ecological amplitude, allowing it to crop up and persist in many different habitat types. V. chamaedrys grows in most soil types except those featuring extremes of water, nutrients, acidity or disturbance (A. Horsfall, in: Preston et al. 2002). In the Sheffield area of England, Grime and his co-workers considered the habitats of V. chamaedrys demonstrated an upland bias at altitudes up to 410 m, and the species occurred exceptionally at up to twice this altitude (Grime et al. 1988, 2007). On account of the restricted altitudinal range that Fermanagh presents, the same behaviour is not apparent in H33. Here, in Fermanagh, the only preference V. chamaedrys demonstrates is towards damp, open, base-rich, infertile calcareous conditions with a pH above 6.0.

Vegetative reproduction

The plant colonises gaps in grass-dominated vegetation by means of its prostrate creeping stolons that root at their nodes. It is therefore favoured by disturbance and competes best on less fertile soils and in pastures, both situations where its more vigorous neighbours are somewhat curtailed and fail to oust it. The shallow-growing underground parts comprise tangled, tough stem branches that sprout clusters of fibrous roots containing a mycorrhizal associate at the nodes along their length. The species regularly occurs in woodland shade often in a non-flowering state and the role of seed in its local dispersal may be secondary to vegetative reproduction in this and in other disturbed ground situations.

Flowering reproduction

In sufficiently open growing conditions, which occasionally can include garden lawns and flowerbeds, plants of V. chamaedrys flower freely, producing blossoms two at a time on the long 10-20 flowered raceme from April to early July (Clapham et al. 1962). Each flower, 10-12 mm diameter, lasts only one or two days before shedding its fused petals and stamens. They are visited by flies and the small mining and ground nesting bee, Andrena labiata, plus small black Halictus bees, honey bees and hoverflies. Despite their name the latter insects, like the others mentioned, alight on the two prominent diverging epipetalous stamens, or on the corolla, seeking the nectar secreted by a disc at the base of the ovary and protected by erect bristly hairs around the base of the very short corolla tube. The two stamens are lateral and divergent and are seized by the insect alighting on the flower to steady its landing. In doing so, it draws the anthers against its body on which pollen is deposited and carried to the stigma of another flower (Hutchinson 1972; Proctor & Yeo 1973; Knight 1999a).

After fertilisation, the two-celled, flattened, heart-shaped fruit capsule, 5 mm, shorter than the calyx, may contain up to ten small, flat seeds, 1.8 × 1.2 mm, ovoid, smooth and brown (Butcher 1961) which are probably wind and/or ant dispersed (Ridley 1930, p. 31). In pasture situations, the seed can survive ingestion by cattle, which along with vegetative fragmentation due to trampling may thus provide another means of species transport and dispersal (Ridley 1930, p. 361).

The survey of soil seed banks of NW Europe found numerous reports of seed survival varying from transient to long-term persistent (Thompson et al. 1997). Grime et al. (1988, 2007) categorised the seedling establishment strategy as S/CSR, meaning intermediate between a Stress-tolerator and a more balanced mix of all three plant strategies, Competitor, Stress-tolerator and Ruderal, ie this indicates or suggests that the vulnerable seedling stage of the species is somewhat better adapted to long-acting environmental stress than it is to immediate competition or heavy or frequent disturbance. These same workers, however, point out that regeneration of V. chamaedrys from seed is insufficiently studied to allow definite pronouncements.

Fermanagh occurrence

In Fermanagh, V. chamaedrys is recorded in 439 tetrads, 83.1% of those in the VC, making it the 35th most widespread species in the entire county survey. Germander Speedwell is widespread throughout the area, except on bogland, aquatic habitats and the higher mountains. The usual habitats include marginal rough grassland on hedgebanks, roadsides, on the margins of woods and scrub on lakeshores, pastures, rock outcrops including cliffs, screes and limestone pavement, and also on waste ground and disturbed soil.

British and Irish occurrence

V. chamaedrys is very widely distributed throughout B & I, but in the N & W Scottish Isles it is almost certainly an introduction (ie on the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland), all records there being confined to disturbed ground near habitation (Pankhurst & Mullin 1991; New Atlas).

European and world occurrence

V. chamaedrys is native and widespread throughout Continental Europe and boreal Asia, but it is also anthropophilic, being favoured by early man's landscape clearances and subsequent disturbances. It is a scattered, established introduction in Japan, the eastern states and W coast of N America, Iceland and New Zealand, where it is occasionally cultivated (Hulten & Fries 1986, Map 1646; Webb et al. 1988, p. 1210).

Medicinal uses

Germander Speedwell had a reputation as a cure for jaundice "throughout Ireland", according to Vickery (2019), the flowers being boiled in a little milk and the infusion drunk. The same author records that in Norfolk the species was known as 'Sore-eyes' and the flowers were infused to make a soothing eye-bath. Vickery also mentions that a tea made from the species was esteemed a valuable remedy for indigestion and stomach pains in Guernsey.

Names

The origin of the genus name 'Veronica' is problematic, and as discussed in the current author's account of V. serpyllifolia on this website, in truth, the origin or derivation is unknown.

The origin of 'Germander' in the English common name, a name which is also applied to several species of the genus Teucrium, including T. chamaedrys (Wall Germander), comes as 'chamaedrys' through medieval Latin 'gamandrea', from the Greek 'khamandrua', or 'chamandrua', being a corruption of 'khamai' or 'chamai', meaning 'on the ground', and 'drus', meaning 'oak'. The prominently toothed leaves of T. chamaedrys were likened to dwarf or ground-hugging oak leaves, ie the leaves of the prickly evergreen Mediterranean shrub, Quercus coccifera, the Kermes Oak. The leaves of V. chamaedrys are thought to resemble those of Teucrium chamaedrys in shape, size and texture and during the 16th century the name became transferred to it, either as straightforward, 'Germander', 'English Germander' or 'Wild Germander'. The current 'recommended' English common name 'Germander Speedwell' is a book name, dating only from the 19th century (Prior 1870; Grigson 1974).

The origin of the name 'Speedwell', nowadays applied across the genus, really had its origins in the supposed medicinal properties of one or a few species of Veronica, such as V. officinalis. It meant the equivalent of 'prosper well', or 'go on well' or just 'get well soon', and may have had other connotations apart from health, perhaps some magical good luck wish or charm, such as 'good speed' or 'God speed', 'Wish-me-well', or 'safe travel' on a journey (Grigson 1955, 1987).

There are 33 alternative English common names listed by Grigson (1955, 1987) and 15 in Vickery (2019), six of which are additional to Grigson's listing. Many of the names make reference to eyes (Angel's-, Blue-, Bobbies'-, Bird-Christ's-, God's-, Devil's-, Deil-, Cat's-, Lark's-, Milkmaid's-), and sight, or lack of it, eg 'Blind-flower', all referring to the beautiful blue and white 'eye' of the individual flower.

Threats

None.

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