Veronica serpyllifolia (Thyme-Leaved Speedwell) - photos and description
Looking straight down on a plant
Lower leaves have petioles
General: Small plants with a decumbent growth habit, rhizomatous. Stems with fine hairs.
Flowers: The flowers are pale purple-blue and grow in leafy racemes. Flowers measured at 7 mm diameter.
Leaves: Leaves opposite. Upper leaves ovate, sessile. Lower leaves more or less orbicular and having petioles. Bottom of leaves with fine hairs, top of leaves are glabrous.
Height: Budd's Flora lists the height to 20 cm. I've measured plants to 9 cm tall.
Habitat: Marshy ground and swamps in the Cypress Hills.
Abundance: Provincially this plant is extremely rare, listed as an S1 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. The plant is fairly common in the Cypress Hills.
Origin: Native.
When and where photographed: Took the above photos May 19th wet ground near a spring, and June 4th in a grassy beaver swamp, Cypress Hills, 450 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.