About Veronica polita Fr.
Veronica polita Fr. is a sprawling annual speedwell that bears blue flowers. It has somewhat dull green, toothed leaves that are broadest at the base. Lower leaves appear non-elongated, while upper leaves are elongated. The flowers are relatively small, with a diameter ranging from 4 to 8 (up to 12) mm. They are usually a distinct bold blue, though sometimes their lowermost section is whitened. Flowers grow singly on stalks that emerge from the stem at the leaf stalk; the longest flower stalks do not clearly exceed the length of the leaves. When mature, flowers produce a fruit capsule with two parallel lobes, covered in a mix of long and short hairs. This species has two variants distinguished by P D Sell: var. polita has flowers 5–8 mm in diameter, and var. grandiflora has flowers 8–12 mm in diameter. It is similar to other speedwell species: Veronica agrestis has fresh green leaves with elongated lowermost leaves, and its fruit lacks short hairs; Veronica persica has flower stalks that are often much longer than its leaves, and the lobes of its fruit diverge in a V-shape. Veronica polita is native to Europe, southwestern Asia, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and a few nearby countries, and has been introduced to many other countries. In Europe, it grows in cultivated ground. In Turkey, it grows on bare soil in open forests, steppe, cultivated land, and roadsides, at elevations between 0 and 1800 m. In North America, it grows in fields, ruderal areas, calcareous soils, and lawns, at elevations between 0 and 600 m.
