VERONICA chamaedrys Germander Speedwell, Cat's Eye, Birdseye Speedwell ____________________________________ Type: Perennial Height: 4-12" (10-30 cm) Flowering Time: Spring, Summer Flower Colour: Blue ____________________________________ Botanical Classification: Class: Angiospermae (Angiosperms) Subclass: Dicotyledonae (Dicotyledons) Superorder: Asteridae (Daisy Superorder) Order: Scrophulariales (Figwort Order) Family: Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family) (under the APGIII system, this plant is now in the Plantaginaceae Family) Genus: Veronica (Speedwell) Species: chamaedrys ____________________________________

Veronica chamaedrys is a familiar plant of grassy roadsides, where it grows with daisies, buttercups and clover from spring and throughout the summer. It also grows in hedges, on banks and grassland. The weak stem is hairy, growing to a height of up to a foot but usually shorter, and the leaves are also hairy, coarse and deeply toothed, in opposite pairs. The bright blue flowers grow in short spikes and last only a day or so.

Veronica chamaedrys has been used in herbal medicine to purify the blood and treat skin problems.

There are several other similar species: Veronica montana (Mountain or Wood Speedwell) grows in damp woodland. It is a more creeping plant, with paler blue flowers on long stalks in the leaf axils. Veronica persica or Veronica buxbaumii (Common Field Speedwell or Buxbaum's Speedwell) is often found in gardens. It is a prostrate annual, with paler, more rounded leaves and flowers growing singly on long stalks in the leaf axils.

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Harvesting and Growing from Seed:

				Germination: Winter Outside (119 days)
Seed Pod The seed pod is heart-shaped, inside the calyx. Seed The seeds are light brown oval discs, like flattened sultanas. Seedling The seedleaves are toothed.