''Veronica'' is the largest genus in the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

, with about 500 species. It was formerly classified in the family

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

. Common names include speedwell, bird's eye, and gypsyweed. Taxonomy for this genus is currently being reanalysed, with the genus '' Hebe'' and the related Australasian genera '' Derwentia'', ''Detzneria'', ''Chionohebe'', ''Heliohebe'', ''Leonohebe'' and ''Parahebe'' now included by many botanists.

Monophyly In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic grou ...

of the genus is supported by nuclear ribosomal

internal transcribed spacer Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) is the spacer DNA situated between the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and large-subunit rRNA genes in the chromosome or the corresponding transcribed region in the polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript. I ...

(ITS) and

cpDNA Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is the DNA located in chloroplasts, which are photosynthetic organelles located within the cells of some eukaryotic organisms. Chloroplasts, like other types of plastid, contain a genome separate from that in the cell nuc ...

. The taxa of the genus are

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

annuals or

perennials A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

, and also

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s or small trees if ''Hebe'' is included. Most of the species are from the temperate

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

, though with some species from the Southern Hemisphere; ''Hebe'' is mostly from New Zealand.

Taxonomy

The genus name ''Veronica'' used in

binomial nomenclature In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

was chosen by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

based on preexisting common usage of the name veronica in many European languages for plants in this group. Such use in English is attested as early as 1572. The name probably reflects a connection with

Saint Veronica Saint Veronica, also known as Berenike, was a woman from Jerusalem who lived in the 1st century AD, according to extra-biblical Christian sacred tradition. A celebrated saint in many pious Christian countries, the 17th-century ''Acta Sanctorum' ...

, whose Latin name is ultimately derived from Greek,

Berenice Berenice ( grc, Βερενίκη, ''Bereníkē'') is the Ancient Macedonian form of the Attic Greek name ''Pherenikē'', which means "bearer of victory" . Berenika, priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC, is the oldest epigraphical evidence. Th ...

Selected species

, ''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

'' listed about 460 accepted species and hybrids in the genus ''Veronica''. This includes species formerly placed in the genus ''Hebe''. *''

Veronica agrestis ''Veronica agrestis'', commonly known as green field speedwell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includ ...

'', green field-speedwell *''

Veronica alaskensis ''Veronica alaskensis'', known as Alaska speedwell or northern kittentails, is a flowering plant in the genus ''Veronica'' of the family Plantaginaceae. It was first formally named in 1933 by Francis W. Pennell and was transferred to the genus ...

'', Alaska speedwell *''

Veronica alpina ''Veronica alpina'', the alpine speedwell or alpine veronica, is a species of flowering plant in the genus '' Veronica'', native to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroes, Svalbard, most of Europe, parts of Siberia, northern Pakistan, the western ...

'', alpine speedwell *''

Veronica americana ''Veronica americana'', variously called American brooklime or American speedwell, is a plant native to temperate and arctic Asia and North America where it grows in streams and bottomlands. It is a herbaceous perennial with glabrous stems 10– ...

'', American brooklime *''

Veronica anagallis-aquatica ''Veronica anagallis-aquatica'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae known by the common names water speedwell, blue water-speedwell,brook pimpernel, and sessile water-speedwell. It is also listed as ''Veronica catenata''. ...

'', water speedwell *''

Veronica aphylla ''Veronica aphylla'', common name leafless stemmed speedwell, is a plant belonging to the family Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flo ...

'', leafless stemmed speedwell *''

Veronica arcuata ''Veronica arcuata'' is a flowering plant species in the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to northern New South Wales. The lilac coloured flowers are showy and conspicuous from late spring to late summer. Description ''Veronica arcuata'' is ...

'' *''

Veronica arenaria ''Veronica arenaria'' is a flowering plant species in the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to New South Wales and Queensland Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country compr ...

'' *''

Veronica arvensis ''Veronica arvensis'', common names: wall speedwell, corn speedwell, common speedwell, rock speedwell, field speedwell, is an annual flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. The species is a native European plant and a common weed i ...

'', wall speedwell *''

Veronica austriaca ''Veronica austriaca'', the broadleaf speedwell, large speedwell, Austrian speedwell, or saw-leaved speedwell, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, native to northern temperate Europe. Growing to tall by broad, ...

'', Austrian speedwell *''

Veronica beccabunga ''Veronica beccabunga'', the European speedwell or brooklime, is a succulent herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae. It grows on the margins of brooks and ditches in Europe, North Africa, and north and ...

'', brooklime *''

Veronica bellidioides ''Veronica bellidioides''L., 1753 ''In: Sp. Pl. 11'' is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Veronica'' of the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to Europe. This species was described by Carl von Linné Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 ...

'' *'' Veronica besseya'' *''

Veronica bishopiana ''Veronica bishopiana'', the Waitākere rock koromiko, is a flowering plant belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to West Auckland in New Zealand, and was first described by Donald Petrie in 1926.Petrie (1926), In: Trans. & Proc. ...

'' *'' Veronica bullii'' *'' Veronica calycina'', cup speedwell *'' Veronica catarractae'' *'' Veronica catenata'' *''

Veronica chamaedrys ''Veronica chamaedrys'', the germander speedwell, bird's-eye speedwell, or cat's eyes, is a herbaceous perennial species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. Description ''Veronica chamaedrys'' can grow to tall, but is fre ...

'', germander speedwell *'' Veronica cinerea'' *'' Veronica continua''

B.G.Briggs Barbara Gillian Briggs (born 1934) is one of the foremost Australian botanists. The '' IK'' lists 205 names of plants which have been published or co-published by her. She was one of the botanists in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, of th1998APG ...

*''

Veronica copelandii ''Veronica copelandii'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name Copeland's speedwell. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the southeastern Klamath Mountains in Shasta and Trini ...

'' *''

Veronica cusickii ''Veronica cusickii'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name Cusick's speedwell. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Montana to northern California, where it occurs in mountain ...

'', Cusick's speedwell *'' Veronica cymbalaria'', pale speedwell *'' Veronica dabneyi'', Azores speedwell *'' Veronica derwentiana'', Derwent speedwell *'' Veronica dillenii'' *'' Veronica diosmifolia'' *'' Veronica filiformis'', slender speedwell *'' Veronica formosa'' *''

Veronica fruticans ''Veronica fruticans'', the rock speedwell (a name it shares with other members of its genus) or woodystem speedwell (a common name that is hardly in common use), is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to nearl ...

'', rock speedwell *''

Veronica gentianoides ''Veronica gentianoides'', the gentian speedwell, is a species of flowering perennial plant in the family Plantaginaceae found in the Middle East, from Turkey to Iran. Description ''Veronica gentianoides'' grows from spreading above-ground rhi ...

'', gentian speedwell *'' Veronica gracilis'' *'' Veronica hederifolia'', ivy-leaved speedwell *''

Veronica incana ''Veronica incana'', the silver speedwell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to parts of Eastern Europe and Russia, all of Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China, and has been introduced to Czechoslovakia. ...

'', silver speedwell *'' Veronica japonensis'' *'' Veronica jovellanoides'' *''

Veronica liwanensis ''Veronica liwanensis'', the Turkish speedwell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae, native to northeast Turkey and the Caucasus. A tough, matforming perennial, adapted to drought and shade, and hardy to Hardiness zone, U ...

'' *''

Veronica longifolia ''Veronica longifolia'', known as garden speedwell or longleaf speedwell, is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. Description This herbaceous perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two ...

'', long-leaved speedwell *'' Veronica lyallii'' *'' Veronica mannii'' *'' Veronica missurica'' *'' Veronica montana'', wood speedwell *'' Veronica nivea'' *'' Veronica obtusata'' *''

Veronica officinalis ''Veronica officinalis'', the heath speedwell, common gypsyweed, common speedwell, or Paul's betony, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is native to Europe and western Asia. It has been introduced to North ...

'', heath speedwell *'' Veronica ovata'' *'' Veronica panormitana'' *'' Veronica peduncularis'' *''

Veronica peregrina ''Veronica peregrina'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by several common names including neckweed, American speedwell, purslane speedwell and hairy purslane speedwell. It is native to the Americas, and is known on ot ...

'', American speedwell *''

Veronica perfoliata ''Veronica perfoliata'', commonly known as digger's speedwell, is a common perennial herb found at higher altitudes in south-eastern Australia. It is a low-growing multi-stemmed plant rising from a woody rootstock. It has rounded blue-grey foli ...

'', Digger's speedwell *''

Veronica persica ''Veronica persica'' is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. Common names include birdeye speedwell, common field-speedwell, Persian speedwell, large field speedwell, bird's-eye, or winter speedwell. It is native to Eurasia and is wide ...

'', common field-speedwell *'' Veronica pimeleoides'' *'' Veronica pinguifolia'' *''

Veronica plebeia ''Veronica plebeia'', commonly known as creeping- or trailing speedwell, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to Australia and New Zealand. Robert Brown described the trailing speedwell in 1810 i ...

'', creeping speedwell *''

Veronica polita ''Veronica polita'', or grey field-speedwell, is a herbaceous flowering plant species in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It has hairy stems, is either prostrate or ascending, with dull green leaves that are one of petiolate, serrate, ovat ...

'', grey field speedwell *'' Veronica ponae'' *'' Veronica prostrata'', sprawling speedwell *'' Veronica rakaiensis'' *'' Veronica regina-nivalis'' *'' Veronica repens'', Corsican speedwell *''

Veronica salicifolia ''Veronica salicifolia'', synonym ''Hebe salicifolia'', the koromiko, or willow-leaf hebe, is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae, which is found throughout the South Island of New Zealand and in Chile. It is a large, evergreen shrub, ...

'' *'' Veronica scutellata'', marsh speedwell *'' Veronica serpyllifolia'', thyme-leaved speedwell *'' Veronica speciosa'' *''

Veronica spicata ''Veronica spicata'' (spiked speedwell; syn. ''Pseudolysimachion spicatum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is tall and bears 1 foot long spikes with blue, pink, purple and white flowers. It is the county flow ...

'', spiked speedwell *'' Veronica stricta'' *'' Veronica strictissima'' *'' Veronica syriaca'' *'' Veronica topiaria'' *''

Veronica traversii ''Veronica traversii'', synonym ''Hebe traversii'', is an ornamental plant of the family Plantaginaceae. It is endemic to the south island of New Zealand. The specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), ...

'' *'' Veronica triphyllos'', fingered speedwell *''

Veronica turrilliana ''Veronica turrilliana'' ( bg, Търилово великденче) is a species of speedwell in the family Plantaginaceae, endemic to the Strandzha mountain range in south-eastern Bulgaria and north-western Turkey. It is included in the Red ...

'' *'' Veronica verna'', spring speedwell *'' Veronica vernicosa'' *''

Veronica wormskjoldii ''Veronica wormskjoldii'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name American alpine speedwell. It is native to much of northern and western North America, including the western United States and northern Can ...

'', Wormskjold's speedwell

Uses

Food and medicine

'' is edible and nutritious, as are most species in the genus Veronica, and is reported to have a flavor similar to

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf ve ...

. The plant can be confused with

skullcap Skullcap or skull cap usually refers to various types of headgear. Specifically it may refer to: Headwear * Beanie (seamed cap) * Biretta, forming part of some clerical, academic or legal dress * Calotte (Belgium), a skullcap worn by students at ...

and other members of the mint family. Members of the mint family have square sided stems, and ''Veronica'' species have rounded stems. ''Veronica'' sp. herb has been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally (as tea) for treatment of disorders of the nervous system, respiratory tract, cardiovascular system, and metabolism.

Ground cover

Several ''Veronica'' species and

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s are cultivated for use as

ground cover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought. In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as t ...

As weeds

Several species of speedwell are sometimes considered weeds in

lawns A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. L ...

. Some of the more common of these are Persian speedwell ('' V. persica''),Persian speedwell
Weed Gallery. U.C. Davis. creeping speedwell ('' V. filiformis''),Creeping Speedwell.
MSU Turf Weeds. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University. corn speedwell ('' V. arvensis''),Corn Speedwell.
MSU Turf Weeds. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University. germander speedwell ('' V. chamaedrys''), and ivy-leaved speedwell ('' V. hederifolia''). It is often difficult to tell one species from another. There are five to seven species of speedwell in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

alone that are easily confused.

Ecology

Species of ''Veronica'' are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e of some species of

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

, including the

grizzled skipper ''Pyrgus'' is a genus in the skippers butterfly family, Hesperiidae, known as the grizzled skippers. The name "checkered" or "chequered skipper" may also be applied to some species, but also refers to species in the genera '' Burnsius'' and '' ...

. An annual life history is known to have evolved separately several times within the genus, with up to 10% of the genus now having an annual life cycle. An annual life cycle, and associated morphological traits, is an adaptation thought to have developed in response to an extremely arid or generally unpredictable environment, and may persist in ''Veronica'' due to a historic concentration and radiation of members of the genus in and from the climatically volatile Balkan Peninsula.

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control Plantaginaceae genera