Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

158Veronica polita. Grey field-speedwell.Rare, with only a single record from dumped soil near Home Farm (444.303), 1993, Florameeting, which is not in the same area as the single record for tetrad 33V given in Hall(1980), This lack of records is simply a reflection of the scarcity of suitable arable habitats inthe Flora area.3 It is widespread in Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa.4 5* Veronica persica. Common field-speedwell.This plant is now so frequent, it is easy to forget that it is an introduction from south-westAsia which Arnold 118871 noted was spreading rapidly, Shown as common by Hall 119801but less so in our area than anywhere else in Sussex, a picture confirmed by our surveywhich produced records for less than a third of the squares recorded. The reason is that3 waste ground, cultivated land and gardens, its preferred habitats, are relatively uncommon on4 5the Forest.Seeds germinate rather sporadically through the spring, autumn and summer, and theymay be killed by frost in severe years. This is one of the first species to flower in the spring,but seed set is generally low at first IBoutin & Harper 19911,It is native in western Asia, and is naturalized almost throughout Europe.* Veronica filiformis. Slender speedwell.An escape from gardens described as rare by Wolley-Dod (1937) who gives a single record forour area; near Fairwarp, E. D. Morgan. Within forty years it had become common and wellestablished IHall 1980(, and it is increasing in England IRich & Woodruff 19961,Our data might be thought to show a further spread as Hall shows it to be present in 113 of the tetrads which fall in our area whereas our 31 1-km square records fall in 18 tetrads but4 5the difference can also be explained by the more intense recording in our survey (see Veronicahederifol;a belowl,Slender speedwell occurs in grassy places and, where it is well-established, can producea rather attractive blue haze in lawns during the spring, a feature not always appreciated bytheir owners! It is strongly self-incompatible and little seed is set as many populations are clones.It is native in Turkey and the Caucasus.Veronica hederifolia. Ivy-leaved speedwell.Our survey indicates that V. hededfolia is significantly more common in our area than the distribution map in Hall (1980)would suggest. It seems unlikely that the frequency of this widespread plant has increased significantly over the lasttwenty years on the Forest so the difference is probably a result of the more intense spring recording which occurredduring our survey. Rich & Woodruff (1995) found that it is increasing in England.Both subspecies are present but the records are too fragmentary to draw much in the way of conclusions from them.The smaller plants of shady places in woodlands are subsp. lucorum, and the more robust weeds of gardens and wasteground are subsp. hederifolia; the former appear to be more frequent.V. hederifolia occurs as a weed in gardens and other cultivated ground and also in hedge banks and woodland edges.Seeds germinate in the autumn and early spring and the seedlings survive through the winter. Nationally the distributionhas a distinct bias toward the south-east of England. It is widespread in Europe, North Africa and Asia, and occurs in NorthAmerica as an introduction.Veronica hederifolia subsp. hederifolia subsp. lucorum3 -++-..-'I:------'--t- 3-++-------~4_ 3-++-------~+-4 5 4 5 4 5