Veronica hederifolia L., Ivy-leaved Speedwell

Account Summary

Growth form and identification

A slender annual of cultivated and open, bare or waste ground, V. hederifolia is an unmistakeable weed with weak, straggling, prostrate or decumbent, thinly and shortly pubescent, hairy stems, 10-60 cm long. The stems bear nearly all alternate, ivy-shaped leaves, broader than long and rather thick in texture. The leaves are semicircular in outline, 5-lobed and shortly stalked. The cotyledons (quite persistent) and some of the lowest leaves are opposite. It often forms long side-branches spreading from the base.

V. hederifolia is readily distinguished from other creeping, hairy, annual speedwells with solitary flowers, by its shortly stalked, semi-circular, lobed leaves, at least as broad as long (An Irish Flora 1996).

When it flowers in spring from April to June, the small, solitary, usually pale-blue bisexual flowers, 4-9 mm diameter, are borne on long stalks (pedicels) in the leaf axils, the stalks soon becoming deflexed in fruit. The fruit capsules are almost spherical, scarcely compressed, hairless, the two chambers of each containing a maximum of just two seeds. The seeds are described as 'grub-like', ie cup-shaped, ellipsoid and wavy, almost smooth (Melderis & Bangerter 1955; Perring & Walters 1989; Sell & Murrell 2007; Parnell & Curtis 2012).

Variation

There is sufficient variation in V. hederifolia, which comprises a polyploidy complex (basic chromosome number n=9) with three ploidy levels, enabling five taxa to be recognised in Europe, two of which occur in B & I. Two rather weakly differentiated subspecies are recognised in B & I, the archaeophyte nominate subsp. hederifolia (a hexaploid) and the perhaps native subsp. lucorum (Klett & Richt.) Hartl. (= V. sublobata M. Fischer) (a tetraploid). All five forms are intersterile and there is taxonomic debate or uncertainty as to the rank of their level of separation (M. Fischer, in: Walters & King 1975).

Subspecies hederifolia has thicker, darker green leaves, 3- to 5-lobed, the middle lobe being wider than long, and the incisions between the lobes are distinctly deeper than they are in subsp. lucorum. The petals of subsp. hederifolia are usually bright blue with a white eye and the anthers are blue before they release their pollen. The anther colour before the pollen is released is the least variable, most reliable character to distinguish the two subspecies; in subsp. lucorum the anthers are whitish rather than blue.

The variability of characters needs to be emphasised, however, since in some plants, one or more characters may be less well shown and plants of one subspecies may exhibit a character that is normally associated with the other subspecies. Therefore, identification must be determined on a combination of characters (M.J. Wiggington & G.C. Graham, in: Rich & Jermy 1998).

Habitat range

In terms of habitat preference, V. hederifolia is a pioneer weed of bare ground on rich soils, frequently met in a wide range of lowland ruderal situations, from being a garden weed, the edges of arable fields, colonising shaded banks, plus disturbed and open ground of all types, including sand dunes, railway ballast, disturbed roadside verges, farmyards, compost heaps, rubbish tips and waste ground. It is especially associated with rocks, shingle and silty places by stream sides in woodland (Sinker et al. 1985; Chater 2010). The established strategy of the species is categorised as R/SR, meaning intermediate between a straight Ruderal species and a Stress-tolerant Ruderal (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).

Subsp. hederifolia tends to occur more typically in open, sunny sites such as arable ground, gardens and roadsides, while subsp. lucorum appears confined to more damp, shaded sites such as woodland and perhaps in more natural or semi-natural habitats than subsp. hederifolia frequents (Green 2008). Subsp. lucorum can, however, also occur as a garden weed (Sinker et al. 1985). In Cardiganshire, Wales (VC 46), Chater (2010) reckoned that subsp. lucorum was the commonest woodland annual in the county, often occurring in vast abundance in spring in the damper and more fertile woods. However, he went on to warn that this ecological distinction, like the morphological ones separating the two subspecies, is imperfect (Chater 2010, p. 591).

British and Irish status

Previously a common cornfield and open ground weed and accepted or presumed by all as a native species in Britain and as possibly introduced in Ireland (Scannell & Synnott 1987), this summer annual has only recently been recognised as an archaeophyte introduction throughout these islands (ie an ancient, or pre-1500 BP introduction) (New Atlas). Although Stace (1997) was still treating it as native throughout B & I, the species had been considered as a possible or probable introduction in Ireland from at least 1950 onwards. In his Flora of County Wicklow, Brunker (1950) regarded V. hederifolia a common colonist of cultivated ground, wall tops and roadsides. In their Flora of Connemara and the Burren, Webb & Scannell (1983) described the species as, "probably introduced", and considered it, "a rare plant in western Ireland". However, the authors of The Flora of County Dublin still reckoned the species, "possibly introduced" (Doogue et al. 1998).

The survey of the flowers of Cork city and county regarded both V. hederifolia subspecies as alien introductions (O'Mahony 2009), but in their Flora of County Limerick, Reynolds & Reynolds (2013) opt for the best of both worlds, regarding subsp. lucorum as native and subsp. hederifolia as alien. In his Flora of County Tyrone, McNeill (2010) goes against the trend, considering V. hederifolia, "probably native" and, "rather uncommon".

Fermanagh occurrence

V. hederifolia was first noticed in Fermanagh in a garden at Crom in 1884. Twenty-three of the 29 records in the Fermanagh Flora Database have been added by RHN since 1987, so it is very probably under-recorded by other workers. V. hederifolia has been found in 20 tetrads, 3.8% of those in the VC. Therefore it appears thinly and widely scattered, mainly in gardens, estates and near habitation or associated with other forms of disturbance on roadsides or open waste ground.

In Fermanagh, the two subspecies are still in the early days of being distinguished and recorded. Four recent records of the 29 recorded for the species in Fermanagh are tentatively identified as subsp. lucorum.

British & Irish occurrence

The difficulty of making field determinations between these two B & I subspecies results in uncertainty regarding accuracy of distribution maps as depicted in the New Atlas. The current author (RSF) has therefore decided not to comment on the subspecies maps in the New Atlas, but to concentrate on the B & I distribution of the species as a whole.

Irish occurrence

V. hederifolia was recorded as a common weed of cultivation in Ireland during the early 19th century (Mackay 1825, 1836). In his Irish Topographical Botany, Praeger (1901) described V. hederifolia as, "often abundant, but rather locally distributed and not common in the Central Plain". Nowadays, in Ireland, V. hederifolia is considered occasional to frequent in the eastern half of the country, becoming much rarer west of the River Shannon (New Atlas; Parnell & Curtis 2012).

British occurrence

The New Atlas hectad map shows V. hederifolia very frequent and widespread throughout lowland England and Wales, becoming more scarce, more coastal and more eastern in Scotland, although present in Orkney and Shetland (A. Horsfall, in: Preston et al. 2002).

European and world occurrence

This polymorphic species seems to have originated in C & S Europe and adjacent parts of N Africa and W Asia. It is widespread throughout temperate Europe, subsp. hederifolia and subsp. lucorum spreading northwards into Scandinavia as weeds. The species s.l. has been introduced into N America, where it has become naturalised, and into Japan, S Australia and New Zealand (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1662).

Names

The Latin specific epithet 'hederifolia' translates as 'ivy-leaved'. English common names include 'Ivy-leaved Speedwell', 'Corn Speedwell', 'Mother of Wheat', 'Winterweed' and 'Hen-bit' (Melderis & Bangerter 1955).

Threats

None.

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