Dry meadows, grasslands and waste places in the steppe zone; frequent in SC and SE BC; introduced from Eurasia.Native to parts of Europe and much of Asia, Spring Speedwell is not very widespread in North America but may well be overlooked due to its similarity to the common Corn Speedwell (Veronica arvensis), which has leaves that are not deeply lobed and its capsule is smooth on the surfaces and glandular hairy around the edge.
General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, 3-15 cm tall, simple to branched at the base, hairy, also glandular above especially in the inflorescence.
Leaves:
Opposite, short-stalked below, unstalked above, egg-shaped to broadly elliptic, about 1 cm long, some pinnately 3- to 7-lobed, hairy.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a terminal, bracted, glandular-hairy, relatively dense raceme of several to many short-stalked flowers, the bracts alternate, the lowermost leaflike, reduced and entire and narrower than the leaves upward; corollas blue to blue-violet, inconspicuous, 2-3 mm across, irregularly 4-lobed, the lobes much longer than the short tube, the upper lobe largest, the lowest lobe narrower than the others; calyces glandular-hairy, 3-5 mm long, deeply 4-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, unequal; styles short, 0.5-0.6 mm long; stamens 2.
How to get rid of:
Use the gel (Roundup Gel) or ready-to-use spray (e.g Roundup Fast Action Ready-to-Use, SBM Job done General Purpose Weedkiller, Doff Glyphosate Weedkiller Ready-to-Use) on patches of speedwell. Leave the weed for three to four weeks for the weedkiller to take effect, before removing dead foliage.
