Flora-Fauna

Veronica persica Poir.

(Encycl. 8: 542, 1808; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 260; Pl. CXXXII nº 7; 1983)

• Life-form & habit: Much-branched annual, stems prostrate to ascending, 10–50 cm long, eglandular-pubescent.
• Leaves: Petiolate, lamina ovate to subcordate, (6–)9–18(–25) × (5–)8–15(–20) mm; margin coarsely serrate to subcrenate with 3–6(–10) teeth per side; upper surface sparsely pubescent, lower surface more densely so; leaves darken slowly when dried.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Racemes with bracts resembling the leaves, upper bracts slightly reduced; racemes with (5–)10–20(–30) flowers. Fruiting pedicels (12–)15–27(–38) mm, 1–2(–3) times longer than the subtending bract, spreading, abruptly recurved at apex, densely eglandular-pubescent.
• Calyx: Fruiting calyx (4–)5–8(–9) mm long, lobes lanceolate-elliptic, 2.4–3.6(–4.2) mm wide, slightly pubescent, with faint veins.
• Corolla: Bright to pale blue, 8–14 mm in diameter, slightly exceeding the calyx.
• Fruit: Capsule 4–6 × 6–9 mm, strongly compressed, broadly notched (sinus > 90°), with distinct keel and conspicuous venation, slightly pubescent; style 2–3 mm, exceeding the sinus.
• Seeds: 12–18 per capsule, yellowish, 1.4–2.3 × 0.9–1.6 mm, elliptic, cyathiform, reticulate-rugose.
• Phenology: Flowers November–May.
• Habitat & elevation: Ruderal species of fallow ground, fields, gardens, walls, dry waste land and steppes; common from coastal plains to montane zones.
• Lebanese distribution: Saïda, Beirut, Chiyah, Choueifat, Nahr el-Kelb, Tripoli, Ksara, Chtaura, Zahlé, Souq el-Gharb, Bân, Ehden, Hermel valley, Mchaïtiyé-‘Aïnata.
• Syrian distribution: Haffé, Bserine (south of Hama), Tell Eddah, Homs, Aleppo, Abou Hareira, Tell Douweir, Qamechliyé, banks of the Tigris, Damascus, Qanaouat.
• Native range: Iran, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus (POWO).
• Introduced into: Afghanistan, Lebanon–Syria, Palestine, Turkey, and widely naturalized across Europe, North Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand (full POWO list: Afghanistan, Alabama, Alaska, Albania, Alberta, Algeria, Argentina NE/NW/S, Arizona, Arkansas, Ascension, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil S/SE, British Columbia, Bulgaria, California, Canary Islands, Cape Provinces, Central European Russia, Chatham Islands, Chile N/C/S, China SC/SE, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Corse, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Delaware, Denmark, District of Columbia, East Aegean Islands, East European Russia, East Himalaya, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, Florida, France, Free State, Galápagos, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hawaii, Hungary, Iceland, Idaho, Illinois, India, Indiana, Iowa, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Juan Fernández Islands, Kansas, Kazakhstan, Kentucky, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Korea, Kriti, Krym, Kuril Islands, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Islands, Libya, Louisiana, Madeira, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mauritius, Mexico C/G/SW, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Morocco, Nebraska, Nepal, Netherlands, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand N/S, Newfoundland, Norfolk Island, North Carolina, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, NW European Russia, NW Territories, Norway, Nova Scotia, NW Balkan Peninsula, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pakistan, Panamá, Pennsylvania, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Prince Edward Island, Queensland, Québec, Rhode Island, Romania, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Saskatchewan, Sicilia, South Australia, South Carolina, South Dakota, South European Russia, South Georgia, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Helena, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Tibet, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uruguay, Utah, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vermont, Victoria, Virginia, Washington, West Himalaya, West Virginia, Western Australia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Xinjiang, Yemen (POWO).