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
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.

Description

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

January–May.

Distribution and habitat

This section does not cite any sources. (January 2020)

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

References

• Georges Tohme& Henriette Tohme, IIIustrated Flora of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research, Second Edition 2014.