Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Speedwell
Bring orchis*, bring the foxglove spire,
The little speedwell’s darling blue,
Deep tulips dash’d with fiery dew,
Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire ...
Alfred Lord Tennyson
The "little speedwell’s darling blue" crossed the Atlantic to North America with the first settlers from Europe, where it has long been valued as a medicinal herb.
Speedwell, in its several varieties, has made itself at home in this continent, flourishing in infertile or recently disturbed ground in every state and province.
In this image of my neglected lawn, the first blooms of Thyme-leaved Speedwell have appeared to adorn what would otherwise be a very drab scene.
Although tiny, this hardy flowering herb produces such a multitude of flowers, the effect is of a patterned blue and white carpet laid across the relatively bare ground. It is certainly an improvement to my patch of more-or-less green grass!
All the Speedwells are colorful en masse, but it is when we move in a little closer—consider—that we can truly appreciate the delicate beauty of these miniature blue and white lilies.
I have identified three varieties of Veronica in my rambles across the Valley, of which two were discovered in my yard. (These discoveries hark back to the start of this endeavor some six years ago: Welcome)
The first Speedwell from my lawn is the aforementioned Thyme-leaved variety, seen here after moving in for an "up close and personal" view.
The other "lawn weed"—as most folks who haven't got down on their knees to get a closer look would call it—is Corn Speedwell, which displays a deeper blue blossom and has a more prostrate growth habit.
It is the earliest of the three types, appearing in January.
I have seen it growing and blossoming in early February, when overnight temperatures dropped into the teens. Even after an accumulation of light snow I found it still displaying its elfin flowers!
(Another apparently fragile early bloomer to be seen in the Gallery, Spring Beauty, was also unaffected by these frigid conditions.)
The third variety, called Common Speedwell, interestingly enough, is not as common in the Valley as its relatives.
I discovered it in 2010 several years after finding its cousins; perhaps it was missed because it makes its first appearance in May in Virginia, when other rampant, new growth tends to obscure it from view by a casual observer.
And it wasn't found adorning my still neglected lawn, as were the other Speedwells. Instead, after some rooting around in the forest looking for another lily I remembered from last season, I spotted this new variety.
Note cards featuring the Common Speedwell wildflower are available in the new Gallery Shop.
Click HERE to visit.
The Speedwell family is assigned to the genus Veronica, a large and varied group, including a number of domestic garden plants, such as Joseph's Coat (V. longifolia), popular in the home garden for its multi-colored foliage.
Inquiring minds probably want to know: Why Veronica and why Speedwell ?
Here is a charming explanation of the origin of the genus name in a work by Victorian naturalist, Neltje Blanchan Doubleday:
"An ancient tradition of the Roman Church relates that when Jesus was on His way to Calvary, He passed the home of a certain Jewish maiden, who, when she saw drops of agony on His brow, ran after Him along the road to wipe His face with her kerchief.
This linen, the monks declared, ever after bore the impress of the sacred features—vera iconica, the true likeness. When the Church wished to canonize the pitying maiden, an abbreviated form of the Latin words was given her, St. Veronica, and her kerchief became one of the most precious relics at St. Peter's, where it is said to be still preserved. Medieval flower lovers...named this little flower from a fancied resemblance to the relic...[and] special healing virtue was attributed to the ... common, wayside plant that bore the saint's name."
The common family name, Speedwell, is derived from the herb's reputation for healing in folk medicine and the "fancied resemblance to the relic." In Great Britain and then North America, the plants were dubbed "speedwell" or that which "quickly makes well.”
In Britain, those who sought the plants for use in herbal medicine would often find them flourishing in the disturbed soils of plowed British cornfields, thus the name, Corn Speedwell (left).
The derivation of Thyme–leaved Speedwell's name is simply an allusion to the similarity of its foliage to that of the herb thyme.
This is reflected in the common name, as well as in its botanical suffix, serpyllifolia, or "thyme-like leaves."
Its leaves are smooth, almost hairless, and are small, compared to its cousins, less than a half-inch in length.
The Corn Speedwell foliage (left) is broader and flatter, as is the case with some other common ground-cover plants; for example, Gill-over-the-ground.
The Common Speedwell foliage is also distinctive.
Its leaves grow in pairs, in opposition, at the base of the stem. These on this plant are over two inches long and are thicker and hairier than either of the other two.
As is probably apparent, Speedwell flowers are similar in shape and coloration, ranging from white up through shades of blue to violet.
But the different foliation of the Speedwells is a handy aid to their identification: A quick look at the leaves helps us to know which variety of Veronica is under consideration.
Although the Speedwells have been valued as part of the herbal pharmacopeia on both sides of the Atlantic, I don't recommend any medicinal use of these plants.
But I would recommend that, if you can, get down on your knees in your yard, with a magnifying glass, and consider the real thing.
(Forget the neighbors! Tell them you are looking for a jewel.)
When I do, I'm always grateful that the Creator has given us such beauty in these elfin lilies, such that, as Jesus said, "...even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
Amen?
But if you can't have a first-hand look at these harbingers of spring, I'm glad that you can consider and enjoy these tiny blue jewels here in the Gallery.
Any thoughts, pro or con? Why not drop me an anonymous note at the Comments page?
OR
Go back to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.
*A wildflower in the Orchid family, "found mainly in woods and hedgebanks from mid spring to early summer in Great Britain," thus the reference by the poet. There is a hardy North American member of the family, the Showy Orchis (Orchis spectabilis), which I hope to photograph someday.