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 Plants Indiana University Herbarium, Usage Rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |  Fruit Paul Rothrock @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ | | | | |
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Origin:
Introduced
Life Cycle:
Annual Similar Species: Veronica agrestis, V. hederifolia, V. opaca, V. persica, V. serpyllifolia
General Desc:
Sprawling, mat-forming annual with rounded, hairy and slightly fleshy stems. Oval-shaped leaves are coarsely rounded or pointed. Small, blue, saucer-shaped flowers with darker veins and white centers grow along the sides or top of the flower stalk.
Identification notes: Annual, rhizomes, stems to 12 inches, creep at base; herbage with spreading hairs to smooth; leaves longer than broad, with 7 to 15 rounded teeth; flowers in upper axils of leaves, up to 1/4 inch wide; fruit capsules broadly rounded at tip, notched.
Height:
To nearly 1 foot
Habitat Description: Disturbed areas with chalky soils including roadsides, cultivated fields, waste areas and along railroad tracks. Also found on lawns, meadows and gardens.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: Below 3100 feet
Color:
Blue
Shape:
Regular in clusters
Tubular:
Y
Flowering Period:
Jun - Sep
Description:
Flower about 1/4 inch, 4 blue petals, white throat. Petals overlap at their base and have an egg-like shape with tapering tips. Flowers can be solitary in the leaf axils (between leaf and stem) or may grow in an open elongated cluster at the stem tops.
Leaf Color:
Green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Round or oval
Leaf Margin:
Toothed
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate and opposite
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Stems and leaves are often hairy and slightly fleshy. Lower leaves are opposite along the stem with short stalks. Upper leaves are often alternate along the stem and nearly stalkless. Leaves are longer than wide, each 1/3 inch long and 1/4 inch wide.
Fruit Color: Yellowish-brown to brown
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: Fruit is 1/16 to 1/4 inch long, dry, flat, wider than long, broadly heart shaped with 2 lobes each having several tiny seeds. Fruit's surface is moderately to densely hairy having both longer, sticky, glandular and shorter non-glandular hairs.
Seed Notes: The fruit splits open when ripe to release the wrinkled, cup-shaped, flattened, tan to yellowish-brown seeds which are nearly 1/16 inch long. Usually, there are 6 to 12 seeds in each chamber of the fruit's lobes.
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