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Thyme-Leaved Speedwell

Thyme-Leaved Speedwell

Veronica serpyllifolia

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How common: Common

Thyme-leaved speedwell is a small, creeping perennial with tiny pale flowers. It makes low patches in lawns, fields and along paths and ditches. Native to Europe, it has spread with people to other temperate regions, including North America.

Did you know?

  • The flowers often show dark blue lines on the petals.
  • Its stems hug the ground, so it often escapes the lawnmower.

About the species

Identification

Low, creeping plant with short upright flowering shoots, 5–20 cm tall. Leaves are small, oval and short-stalked; edges are smooth or with tiny teeth, surfaces smooth or slightly hairy. Flowers sit in a short cluster; each is about 4–7 mm across, white to pale blue with darker blue lines, with four petals. Flower stalks are short and finely hairy. After flowering it forms small, flattened, hairy seed pods. Compared with other lawn speedwells, its leaves are broader and the pale flowers are smaller and in clusters, not single and bright blue like Persian speedwell. Flowers in Finland from June to August.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

yards and roadsides

Flowering

Jun–Aug

About the habitat

Grows in open, often disturbed places: lawns and pastures, field edges, ditches, wet paths and shores, and by roads and in yards. It does well in moist ground but can also appear in dry, sunny spots. Common in most of Finland; rare in northernmost Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Fornax, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Veronica serpyllifolia W.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39600

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39600

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39600

Text: Pinkka: IPS-153 Flora of Subarctic Europe - Tanacetum-Viscaria, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39600

Text: Pinkka: Pieni maatalouslajintuntemus - Puuvartiset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39600

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orvont%C3%A4dyke

See also