Veronica montana L., Wood Speedwell

Account Summary

Growth form, recognition and preferred habitats

A widespread but scattered and relatively uncommon, wintergreen, low-growing, patch-forming polycarpic perennial with slender, creeping stems up to 50 cm long, adventitiously rooting at the nodes, branch ends curving upwards and ascending to 15 cm. It is like V. chamaedrys (Germander Speedwell) and V. officinalis (Heath Speedwell) in both its hairy appearance and its clonal patch-forming habit, but V. montana has hairs all round the creeping, rooting stems (unlike the two lines of hairs on the stems of V. chamaedrys). It also differs from V. chamaedrys in having clearly stalked (petioles 6-20 mm), larger leaves and fewer, smaller, paler, lilac-blue flowers per axillary raceme (Melderis & Bangerter 1955; Butcher 1961). However, V. chamaedrys can sometimes occur in woodland and along overgrown rides and trails and, in damp, shaded conditions, the characteristic two lines of hairs may not develop, the stems becoming ± uniformly hairy all round (R.W.M. Corner, in: Rich & Jermy 1998).

V. montana is also more shade-tolerant than V. chamaedrys and it will flower under deciduous canopy, though not unnaturally it performs better in this respect and others, when growing under somewhat better lit, half-shade conditions. It usually occupies damp to moist, lowland woods and sheltered, shaded banks. It prefers moist, seepage areas, avoids the most acidic soils and is often found in coppice situations. While it can be found on damp mildly calcareous soils, it shows a definite preference for mildly acidic ones (Garrard & Streeter 1983; Grime et al. 1988, 2007).

Despite its specific epithet, V. montana is not a mountain, nor even an upland species at all. It reaches its highest site at 435 m on Pont y Daf, Brecs., Wales (VC 42) (A. Horsfall, in: Preston et al. 2002). Rather than a montane plant, in some parts of B & I, it is reputed to be a good indicator species of ancient woodland, of oak, beech, ash and alder, usually on nutrient-rich soils (Crawley 2005). It is certainly rare in unshaded and regularly disturbed ground. Having said that, it is probably not a very competitive species, appearing to frequent habitats offering less-than-ideal growing conditions that will limit the vigour of accompanying species. The established strategy of V. montana is categorised as SR/CSR, meaning intermediate between a Stress-tolerant Ruderal and a more balanced mix of all three plant strategies, Competitor, Stress-tolerator and Ruderal (Grime et al. 1988, 2007). Regeneration is principally vegetative, the species readily forming spreading clonal mats. In linear habitats such as streamside banks and along woodland rides, the plant shows an ability to spread that is very probably partially achieved by plant fragmentation and re-establishment, as well as by seed.

Flowering reproduction

Wood Speedwell flowers from April to July and in doing so, it shows a remarkable tolerance of woodland shade, flowering over a wide range of light levels that limits many other associated species including grasses such as Holcus mollis (Creeping Soft-grass). Having said this, it flowers best in lightly-shaded sites (Grime et al. 1988, 2007). The flowers, 8-10 mm in diameter, are borne in lax, leafless, few-flowered racemes of usually between two and eight lilac-blue flowers. The pedicels are long and the bracts subulate (ie awl-shaped: narrow and tapering from the base to a fine point). The flowers are pollinated by small flies and Hymenoptera (Garrard & Streeter 1983).

The fruit capsules are 1.2 × 1.0 cm, flattened, kidney-shaped, longer than the sepals. The seeds are 2.0 × 1.8 mm, almost orbicular, flat, smooth and unmarked, yellow (Butcher 1961; Sell & Murrell 2007). Seed is set from July to August, the amount of seed produced often being low. The soil seed bank survey of NW Europe contains five estimates of V. montana longevity, two of which regard the seed as transient, while the other three suggest it is either short-term persistent (1-5 years) or long term (over five years) (Thompson et al. 1997). Apart from the spread of the species along linear habitats mentioned above, evidence of seed dispersal has not been observed. The fact that V. montana often appears to be ± restricted to long-persistent habitats, like ancient woodland, suggests seed dispersal is not well developed (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).

Fermanagh occurrence

Wood Speedwell has been recorded in 214 Fermanagh tetrads, 40.5% of those in the VC. It is most frequently found on appropriately shaded and sheltered lakeshores and river banks. In Ireland, V. montana is sometimes considered mainly a plant of base-rich soils (An Irish Flora 1996). However, in Fermanagh, while it does quite frequently occur over limestone, it is more commonly found on mildly to moderately acid soils, varying from light sandy to heavy clay in texture.

British and Irish occurrence

V. montana has a widely but thinly scattered to locally frequent distribution throughout most of England and Wales, but it is more scarce in the less wooded parts of East Anglia and the east Midlands. Comparison between the two BSBI atlases shows there is no noticeable change in the species distribution during the 1962-2002 period (A. Horsfall, in: Preston et al. 2002). In Ireland and Scotland, V. montana is very local and the species is absent from Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides.

European and world occurrence

V. montana belongs to the European temperate phytogeographical element. It is restricted to C & S Europe and adjacent parts of Africa and Asia. The distribution stretches from N Spain and Portugal to N Denmark and eastwards to Latvia and W Ukraine and the Caucasus. In N Africa, it is found on the mountains of Algeria and Tunisia (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1647; Sell & Murrell 2007).

Threats

None.

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