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Veronica peregrina L., American Speedwell

Account Summary

Introduction, neophyte, rare, but probably slowly increasing.

1902; Abraham, J.T.; Enniskillen Town.

April to November.

Growth form and history of introduction and recording

A small, 5-25 cm tall, branched, erect, annual American immigrant with inconspicuous 2-3 mm diameter flowers, V. peregrina first appeared in Ireland as an abundant garden weed in Baron's Court, Co Tyrone (H37) in 1836 (in Cybele Hibernica 1866 referred to as 'Barnescourt'), where there is a long established nursery garden. The plant, with its long, lax terminal raceme of tiny, pale blue or whitish flowers that readily self-pollinate and set fruit freely, is believed to have been accidently and unintentionally introduced to garden cultivation in Britain as a 'stowaway' on the soil of a deliberately imported plant, apparently arriving from a European nursery sometime prior to 1680 and unknowingly distributed by the horticultural trade (Crawley 2005). The flowers open for only a few hours around midday and they quickly wilt with the petals dropping away. The flowers are replaced by other ones next day (https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/purslane-speedwell, accessed 24 October 2022).

Its slightly succulent, ovate or oblong leaves, entire or weakly toothed, narrowing to a short petiole, serve to distinguish it from V. serpyllifolia. American Speedwell flowers from April to July and good fruiting material can be found in August, although it is in fruit as early as May. It is a weed of cultivated ground, particularly fruit and nursery gardens, usually on gravel paths or on ± compacted ground (Bangerter 1964; Garrard & Streeter 1983; Crawley 2005).

Soon after its first recognition, and up to the end of the 19th century, records of V. peregrina abounded from N and NW Ireland and it became quite widely established and apparently naturalised. First VC records in nearby counties were, E Donegal (H34) 1870, W Donegal (35) 1871, Roscommon (H25) 1872, Sligo (H28) 1872, Londonderry (H40) 1896 and Monaghan (H32) 1900. Hart (1883) said of it, "In many places from east to west of Donegal it has become the commonest garden weed. Except in gardens I have not met with it." In a short note on the species in Ireland, Praeger (1896b) commented that, "It appeared to be thoroughly established in cultivated ground in the north-west of Ireland and the fact is of interest, as, so far as I can find, it is unknown in England, and in Scotland is recorded from Perth alone." He went on to say, "In the London Catalogue it does not find a place, being apparently treated as a mere casual, and unworthy of insertion …". At the date Praeger was writing (1896), he pointed out that this American immigrant had also settled down as a colonist in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy and other unnamed European counties.

However, at his time of writing, Praeger (1896b) was wrong in his statement about the non-existence of English V. peregrina records. It had been recorded in S Lancaster (VC 59), being reported by Ashfield (1865) as having been discovered by a Miss Becker at Altham, "a few years ago … it has now spread over the place and taken such possession of the ground that it comes up persistently in ever-increasing numbers year after year …". It had also been found in Middlesex (VC 21), at Harrow and at Pinner Hill (Melvill 1864). Another pre-1896 record was at Knutsford Racecourse in Cheshire (VC 58) where, "only a plant or two" were known, "for a couple of years" and, "were still there, 1870" (Warren 1871).

Variation

Two forms of V. peregrina originate from America, north and south, the glabrous species and a glandular-pubescent form, var. xalapensis (Kunth) St John & Warren. The latter form has appeared in Britain and Europe as a rare wool alien (Stace 1991; Clement & Foster 1994).

Fermanagh occurrence

In Fermanagh, V. peregrina was first found at Enniskillen in 1902, but it remained scarce or almost unrecorded until RHN started recognising it in 1989. Since then, he has added 36 records, mainly from the grounds of schools and the larger landed estates around the lowlands of the Erne basin, but also in municipal flowerbeds, urban waste ground and in the disused Brookeborough quarry, where garden rubbish is fly tipped. It appears to be only casual and sporadic, but has now been recorded in 16 Fermanagh tetrads, 3% of the total in the VC.

Irish occurrence

V. peregrina is still present in its original Irish site at Baronscourt nursery, Co Tyrone, and although it is still mainly a garden weed, it is occasionally found on roadsides, forest tracks, waste ground, quarries and, in one particular Tyrone site (Augher Lough), it behaves as a lakeshore marsh plant (McNeill 2010). It has now been recorded at least once in 15 Irish VCs, but in some of these, as in Fermanagh, it has proved only casual and fleeting (Reynolds 2002). The New Atlas hectad map plots records in eleven Irish VCs, almost all in the N or NW portion of the island (A. Horsfall, in: Preston et al. 2002).

British occurrence

The expectation of leading botanists in the 19th century that V. peregrina would quickly spread beyond garden cultivation and become an invasive and widespread weed has not been fulfilled (Bangerter 1964). Despite being abundant in its original localities, it spread from them only slowly, increasing its distribution probably mainly through fresh introductions of seed. It seems to require the optimum soil conditions of nursery or other cultivated garden settings, where it persists longest and it appears to have difficulty in surviving for long outside such managed conditions. The gradual increase in the number of VCs in which it appears indicates it has established status, but in most non-garden sites it cannot be regarded as completely naturalised (Bangerter 1964; Clement & Foster 1994). In Britain, V. peregrina has become widely but patchily distributed, extending northwards to the far north of Scotland. Apart from cultivated or disturbed moist ground, it occasionally appears in damp waste places and by streams (Stace 1991; Clement & Foster 1994).

European and world occurrence

Taken together, the present world distribution of the species is disjunct circumpolar and it spans the equator (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1656). In Europe, it is quite widely scattered, but in the Mediterranean region it is confined to Italy, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. It has been introduced to S Australia.

Names

The Latin specific epithet 'peregrina' is from 'peregrinus' meaning 'foreign' or 'exotic', derived from 'pereger' meaning 'abroad' or 'away from home', from 'per' meaning 'through' and 'ager', 'field' or 'land' (Gilbert-Carter 1964). There are a number of English common names additional to the book name 'American Speedwell'. These include 'Purslane Speedwell', 'Hairy Purslane Speedwell', 'Necklace Weed' and 'Neck Weed'.