This week features yet another speedwell. Pretty patches of Slender Speedwell have appeared in the churchyard.
Introduced from Turkey in 1880 as a rock garden plant, it soon escaped to become naturalised as a wildflower. It rarely sets seeds, spreading by the rooting from fragments of stem, a trait which has not endeared it to lovers of a pristine lawn.
It is easily distinguished from the many other Speedwells by the long single flowering stem and relatively small round leaves. It thrives in short, often mowed grass, so is very happy in a churchyard. Like other ground cover, mat forming plants it provides useful habitat for our small invertebrates. Other common names: creeping speedwell, threadstalk speedwell, round-leaved speedwell, creeping veronica. Speedwell id