Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Common Speedwell - Veronica officinalis   L.
Members of Plantaginaceae:
Members of Veronica with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Scrophulariales » Family Plantaginaceae
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AuthorL.
DistributionMostly in the Mountains and the western and northern Piedmont; also in the Coastal Plain (Greene County). First collected in 1897 in open woods on the Biltmore Estate, Buncombe County. Note that some references consider this species as possibly native in the eastern U.S., some a mix of native and non-native populations, and others strictly an Old World species. This website considers it is not native in NC.

Native of Eurasia; in N.A. much of Canada and the U.S. south to GA, IL, KS, WY, CA.
AbundanceFrequent to common in the Mountains and upper Piedmont; rare in the northeastern Piedmont and Coastal Plain.
HabitatWoodlands, openings in forests, spruce-fir woods, roadsides, fields, cemeteries, and many other places.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting May-September.
IdentificationCommon Speedwell is a perennial with creeping stems up to 15 inches long and pairs of elliptical leaves up to 1.5 inches long, bluntly toothed. The inflorescences (racemes) occur in the upper axils, and have 10-35 flowers, mainly light blue in color, but at times white or blue. It does not resemble other speedwells in NC owing to the flowers in elongated racemes.
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Global RankG5
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