FIGWORT FAMILY SCROPHULARIACEAE 
CORN SPEEDWELL 
Veronica arvensis L. 
The Speedwells are mostly very small and insignificant plants 
that are easily overlooked. They are common, however, in fields, 
woods and waste places, and in cultivated soil. One or more kinds 
are apt to be along the edge of a lawn 
almost any time during the summer, 
and in all these places are known 
from Nova Scotia to British Colum- 
bia, south to Florida, Texas and Cali- 
fornia. Several species are natives of 
this continent but the Corn Speed- 
well is an immigrant from Europe. 
It is an annual and the whole 
plant is very hairy. The stem is 
slender and finally becomes much 
branched, the branches being 3-10 
inches long and spreading. The low- 
est leaves are petioled but the upper 
are sessile. 
The flowers are produced from . 
March to September on very short 
peduncles in the leaf axils. The calyx 
is cleft into 4 narrow segments. The 
corolla is blue, sometimes very pale 
blue, and unequally 4-lobed. There 
are only 2 stamens, I on either side 
at the base of the upper corolla lobe. 
The ovary is 2-celled and the style 
slender. The capsule is flattened and 
2-lobed. 
The Purslane Speedwell or Neckweed, Veronica peregrina L., is 
much less hairy or nearly smooth, 4-12 inches erect, and branched. 
The upper leaves are narrow, entire and sessile, whereas the lower are 
a little broader, either sessile or very short petioled and usually 
slightly toothed. The flowers of this species are nearly white, almost — 
sessile and in bloom from May to October. The heart-shaped capsule 
is a little shorter than the calyx and contains many flat seeds. This © 
plant is known in moist and cultivated soil throughout the United 
States. 
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