Veronica officinalis L., Heath Speedwell

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

This is a low, creeping, branching, rooting and mat-forming, hairy perennial with opposite, elliptical, coarsely-toothed, nearly stalkless leaves. The leaves are wedge-shaped at their base, rounded or with a broad, triangular top and the leaf blades are very variable in size, 5-30 × 3-30 mm. V. officinalis grows only around 15-25 cm tall and its slender, straggling stems are thinly pubescent with rather long hairs all around.

V. officinalis is common and widespread in a varied range of habitats including open woodland, short turf on dry, grassy areas of heaths, stony banks and pastures at all levels, by mountain streams up to around 900 m, as well as on cliffs, screes and walls on moderately acid, well-drained, sandy, stony or loamy, often leached soils, including by roadsides (Webb & Scannell 1983; Sinker et al. 1985; A. Horsfall, in: Preston et al. 2002). It also regularly occurs on slightly better drained raised mounds and on anthills in calcareous grasslands. In fact, despite its common name suggesting a rather specific heath habitat, it can be found in short turf almost anywhere, except on the very highest or the wettest ground.

The plant can spread vegetatively and often forms large clonal mats in suitable short turf, where it tolerates both heavy grazing and moderate soil disturbance from trampling (Sinker et al. 1985). The established strategy of V. officinalis is categorised as SR/CSR meaning it is considered intermediate between a Stress-tolerant Ruderal and a more balanced combination of all three plant strategies, Competitor, Stress-tolerator and Ruderal (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).

Variation

This is a very variable species with respect to both size and degree of hairiness. Plants with the largest leaves and the greatest development of hair appear most frequently in open woodland conditions, while plants on the coast, around the mountains and on acid heaths tend to be smaller than average (Sell & Murrell 2007).

Fermanagh occurrence

While as the accompanying tetrad map indicates, Heath Speedwell is common in a wide range of local habitats liberally scattered across the VC, it is neither as widespread nor as frequent as V. serpyllifolia (Thyme-leaved Speedwell) (see the current author's account on this website). In this case, V. officinalis has been recorded in just 204 tetrads, 38.6% of the VC total, in comparison with 346 tetrads, 65.5% of squares for V. serpyllifolia.

Flowering reproduction

V. officinalis produces dense, spike-like, erect, stalked racemes of 15-25 small flowers, 6-7 mm in diameter, with lilac-blue or violet-blue corollas marked with dark blue veins, borne in the axils of leaves, rather than terminal on the stem (Garrard & Streeter 1983; Sell & Murrell 2007). Characteristically, the pedicels are 1-2 mm long, shorter than both the bracts and the pubescent, 4-lobed flower calyx (2.0-2.5 mm). The flowers are borne from May to August and they produce nectar to attract various small insects that pollinate them, or else they self-pollinate as the flower fades, the filaments of the two stamens twisting inwards and downwards as the corolla withers until the dehisced anthers touch the stigma with their pollen (Hutchinson 1972).

The fruit capsule is partially flattened, heart-shaped, shortly pubescent and it exceeds the calyx in length. It dehisces into two valves, opening apically. The seeds, 0.8-1.2 mm, are yellow or light brown, sub-round or elliptical, flat and smooth (Butcher 1961; Hutchinson 1972; Sell & Murrell 2007). In one English study, the mean seed production of V. officinalis was around 8,700 per plant (Salisbury 1942, p. 228).

There does not appear to be any specific dispersal mechanism mentioned in the literature – a topic awaiting study – but the very small, lightweight seeds are undoubtedly lifted out from the open capsule by the slightest breeze passing across it. It is also very probable that seeds of plants growing on or near anthills are distributed by the insects, as is known to occur in other parts of the world (Ridley 1930).

British and Irish occurrence

Widely distributed throughout the whole of both islands but, while the overall distribution is little changed since the 1962 BSBI Atlas (Perring & Walters 1962), there have been local declines due to contraction in range caused by habitat loss, especially in the English Midlands. In Ireland, it is very frequent, locally abundant, but apparently less so in the centre of the country (Webb et al. 1996; New Atlas; Parnell & Curtis 2012).

European and world occurrence

V. officinalis belongs to the European boreo-temperate phytogeographical element and occurs in woods and heaths almost throughout Europe from Iceland to the Mediterranean basin and the Azores. It also occurs in Asia Minor and the Caucasus and has been widely introduced, including to eastern N America and to New Zealand, where it is extremely rare or now extinct (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1645; Webb et al. 1988; Sell & Murrell 2007).

Medicinal uses

This species of Veronica retained a place in herbal medicine until quite recent times due to its possessing astringent compounds, including a glycoside called aucubine, tannins and several acids, which gave it diuretic, expectorant and tonic properties. According to Grieve (1931), it was used for haemorrhages, treatment of wounds, skin complaints and an infusion of the dried plant treated coughs and catarrh. On the other hand, Launert (1981) describes the effect of V. officinalis as mildly diuretic, mildly expectorant and anti-diarrhoeal, and an infusion was recommended for chronic skin complaints, stomach upsets, arthritis and rheumatic conditions. Allen & Hatfield (2004) reviewed the evidence for medical use of this species in B & I and found most or almost all of it unreliable, book derived recommendations with little or no first hand verified accounts of its use other than for treating colds in Donegal.

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 Latin specific epithet 'officinalis' as usual indicates the medicinal use of the herb in the past, it supposedly being collected by pharmacists and sold in their shops (Stearn 1992). However, there seems to be only very slight evidence of any real medicinal use and the name may be another example of a discredited 'book name'.

Threats

None.

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