Veronica arvensis, L.

46. V. arvensis L. , Sp. Pl. 13 (1753) View Cited Treatment .

Stem (2-)5-40 cm, simple and erect to much-branched and procumbent, pubescent, and often slightly glandular above. Leaves 2-15 mm, triangular-ovate with truncate or weakly cordate base, crenate-serrate, pubescent or subglabrous, the lower shortly petiolate, the upper sessile. Flowers in racemes; bracts longer than pedicels, the upper lanceolate, the lower ovate. Calyx-segments lanceolate; corolla 2-3 mm in diameter, blue. Capsule c. 3 x 3 mm, obcordate, flat, usually subglabrous except for marginal cilia; style c. 1 mm, scarcely exceeding the sinus. Seeds c. 1 x 0-75 mm, elliptical, flat. 2/z =?14,16. Cultivated ground, walls and other dry, open habitats. Almost throughout Europe. All except Fa Sb; introduced in Is.

V. sartoriana Boiss. & Heldr. in Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Or. Nov. 3(3): 171 (1856), is a dwarf plant (c. 5 cm), densely glandularhairy, with longer pedicels, capsule c. 4 mm, and seeds c. 1-2 x 1-0 mm, broadly elliptical and slightly concave on one face. Such plants occur on mountains in Greece and Kriti, but do not seem sufficiently distinct from the very variable V. arvensis to merit specific rank.