Veronica syriaca, the Syrian speedwell, is a flowering plant species in the family Plantaginaceae. The generic name of this flower is of unknown origin. Some think it is a distortion of betonica, the Latin name of a species of Labiates; others consider that it refers to Saint Veronica who handed a cloth to Christ to wipe the perspiration from his face.[1]

Veronica syriaca
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Veronica
Species:
V. syriaca
Binomial name
Veronica syriaca
Roem. & Schult.
Veronica syriaca

Description edit

Annual. pubescent-glandular, 10–30 cm. Leaves ovate, crenulate or dentate. Flowers in loose racemes. Bracts linear, entire. Pedicels filiform, spreading-erect, sometimes recurved at apex. Calyx lobes ovate-Ianceolate, 2–3 mm. Corolla blue and white, 8–15 mm in diameter.

Flowering edit

January–May.

Distribution and habitat edit

Fields, gardens. Coast, lower and middle mountains, eastern slope, Beqaa of Lebanon, Hennon. Syria and Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey.

References edit

  1. ^ Mustapha Nehmeh, Wild Flowers Of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research,1978,page 214.
  • Georges Tohme& Henriette Tohme, IIIustrated Flora of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research, Second Edition 2014.