Image of woodystem speedwell

Description:

Slo.: skalni jetinik - Habitat: stony alpine grassland, road side, skeletal ground; southwest oriented mountain slope; open, sunny and dry place; calcareous ground, exposed to direct rain, elevation 2.000 m (6.500 feet), average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 0 - 2 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. - Substratum: soil among stones and rocks. - Comment: Veronica fruticans is one of the most beautiful species of very numerous genus Veronica. There are well above thirty species and subspecies known growing in Slovenia. They are not always easy to be determined correctly. Six of them climb up to alpine elevations. None of them has so intensive colored, deep blue flowers as Veronica fruticans. They are also quite large for the genus. Hence it is easy to spot it and to be properly recognized. Veronica fruticans grows exclusively in subalpine and alpine elevations. Individual flowers open for only a single day, but the flowers are clustered and they open one after another, therefore the plant can be spotted a considerably long time in July and August. - Ref.: (1) A.Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007) (in Slovene), p 478.