Veronica politaFr.

Grey Field-speedwellgray field speedwellgrey speedwell

WFO wfo-0000425848 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Veronica polita, photographed by Violet T.
fig. a Violet T., CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-11 / obs. 200300242

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 66 botanical countries

Regions where Veronica polita is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Somalia, Tunisia, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Korea, Lebanon-Syria, Nansei-shoto, North Caucasus, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaEgyptLibyaMoroccoSomaliaTunisiaCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqJapanKazakhstanKirgizstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanYemenPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Canary Is.KoreaNansei-shotoBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Veronica polita, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Nansei-shoto NNS
North Caucasus NCS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Yemen YEM
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Egypt EGY
Libya LBY
Morocco MOR
Somalia SOM
Tunisia TUN
Pakistan PAK ASIA-TROPICAL
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 1,178 in flower of 1,267 examined

Proportion of examined Veronica polita in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 36 37 97% 86% to 100%
Feb 180 197 91% 87% to 95%
Mar 512 539 95% 93% to 97%
Apr 337 360 94% 91% to 96%
May 60 67 90% 80% to 95%
Jun 21 24 88% 69% to 96%
Jul 2 4 too few examined
Aug 6 7 86% 49% to 97%
Sep 4 6 67% 30% to 90%
Oct 3 5 60% 23% to 88%
Nov 3 3 too few examined
Dec 14 18 78% 55% to 91%

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Veronica polita observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 1,178 of 1,267 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 2 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,973 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -8.5 °C -3.8 °C 6.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.7 °C 28.2 °C 34.6 °C
Annual rainfall 447 mm 817 mm 1,234 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 38 mm 128 mm 256 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,973 research-grade observations of Veronica polita that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 27 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cardia didyma (Ten.) Dulac
  • Pocilla polita (Fr.) Fourr.
  • Veronica agrestis subsp. didyma (Ten.) Ball
  • Veronica agrestis subsp. didyma Bonnier & Layens
  • Veronica agrestis subsp. polita (Fr.) Schübl. & G.Martens
  • Veronica agrestis subsp. polita (Fr.) Rouy
  • Veronica agrestis var. carnosula Mert. & W.D.J.Koch
  • Veronica agrestis var. didyma (Ten.) Pomata
  • Veronica agrestis var. inciso-crenata G.Mey.
  • Veronica agrestis var. incisocrenata G.Mey.
  • Veronica agrestis var. polita (Fr.) Wahlenb.
  • Veronica caninotesticulata Makino
  • Veronica colocensis Menyh.
  • Veronica crenulata Sessé & Moc.
  • Veronica didyma Ten.
  • Veronica didyma f. pusilla Bolzon
  • Veronica didyma var. lilacina T.Yamaz.
  • Veronica didyma var. thellungiana (E.Lehm.) Druce
  • Veronica nitidula Rchb. ex Walp.
  • Veronica polita subsp. ludwigiana E.B.J.Lehm.
  • Veronica polita subsp. thellungiana E.Lehm.
  • Veronica polita var. autumnalis Lange
  • Veronica polita var. lilacina (T.Yamaz.) T.Yamaz.
  • Veronica polita var. rosella Sudre

and 3 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.