Winter Speedwell

Here's another (late) winter blooming wildflower that has shown itself recently in early March, 2014.

Last October I posted about a tiny blue flower called American Speedwell. Today's post is about one of the other Speedwells, with a very similar small blue flower. Winter Speedwell (Veronica persica) is also called Bird's Eye and Persian Speedwell and grows in nearly every state. In some areas it is regarded as a weed. But then as Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

“WHAT IS A WEED? A PLANT WHOSE VIRTUES HAVE YET TO BE DISCOVERED.”

Winter Speedwell blooms in late winter in our area but can be hard to spot due to its small size. We found a few growing just off our gravel road, on a southern exposed berm. The colorful blue flowers have four petals and are only about 1 cm wide.

The name is derived from the story about a young girl (later canonized as St. Veronica) who wiped Jesus Christ’s face with Speedwell flowers on his journey to Calvary. As the story goes, healing properties were then absorbed by the plant. 

I found a few references to using Speedwell as an herbal tea expectorant, but it was not clear as to which exact species, so don't go boiling this one; stick to your favorite Stash tea!

Photo taken March 3, 2014

Photo taken March 3, 2014