COMMON SPEEDWELL

Veronica spp. Scrophulariaceae

There are many types of speedwells found all over the north Indian hills growing from 1500-5000 m. They can
be white, lilac, purple-blue or a clear blue, which gives rise to the saying/eyes as blue as speedwells’. Sometimes it is
not easy to distinguish one species from another, and even botanists find it a difficult genus.
The four-petalled blue flowers grow in short racemes, each petal veined with a darker blue. The stems and
leaves are covered with soft hair. The leaves are small ovals, serrated at the edges. The plants are about Id-30 cm
tall.
Speedwells grow in mixed weed-lands, as well as sparse meadows and they like a sandy, loamy and rather acid
soil.
In times gone by speedwells were used in folk medicine especially for respiratory diseases, rheumatism and gout.
A detailed description of the plant appeared in a herbal written by Hieronymus Bock, one of the best botanists of
the Middle Ages. In 1690 Johannes Francus, an herbalist, published a book in which he dealt exclusively with the
virtues of the speedwell.
A variety of the speedwell known as V. anagallis-aquatica, or the water speedwell, with pale blue flowers and
oblong-lanceolate, toothed leaves grows in the north Indian plains and flowers in the winter. This favour damp
ground, especially river and canal banks.
The botanical name Veronica, is named after St. Veronica.
 FLOSS FLOWER
Ageratum conzoides Compositae

I long roadsides and under trees in parks, in the winter we notice a blue mist formed by the floss flower plants
growing closely massed together. Originally from tropical America, this is another wild flower which has spread all
over India. It grows to a height of 2000 m. In the winter, parks and roadsides are carpeted thickly with ageratum. At
higher altitudes it flowers from the early summer right up to the autumn.
The plant stands erect and is covered with soft hair all over its stem and leaves. Each flower head looks like a
mop and is composed of very tiny florets. The fruit is black, angled and crowned with a ring of three to five minutely
barbed, slender scales. Ageratum can also be white. It is grown as a garden flower and attracts a lot of tiger
butterflies.
This plant is used for fodder and in Hindi is known as Nilam, an apt name for its beautiful blue. For some reason
it is also known as Tambaku. The botanical name Ageratum comes from the Greek a, without, and gems, age
referring to the long lasting flowers.
 LESSER PERIWINKLE
Vinca minor Apocynaceae

While walking through shady woodland slopes of hill stations of north India one sees banks of purple-blue
periwinkles. It was originally a garden plant but is truly wild now in the Simla and Mussoorie areas, where it was
introduced over a hundred years ago. It tumbles over tree-shaded slopes which it covers with its dark green, oval-
pointed leaves.
The periwinkle is a perennial plant with a creeping rootstock, which roots at the nodes and throws up short, erect
flowering stems. The purple-blue flowers with five petals, are borne on short stems. The petals are united for half
their length to form a tube, and then open out which makes the flower look trumpet-like when it is viewed sideways.
The leaves of the periwinkle grow opposite each other.
In the west periwinkles are planted in cemeteries. In the days gone by, garlands were made of the flowers for
corpses and condemned criminals. The reason for this is obscure- perhaps purple-blue is linked with sadness and
mourning. Sometimes blue eyes are likened to periwinkles.
This periwinkle, also known as the blue periwinkle, is used in herbal medicines to treat diarrhoea and dysentery.
The crushed leaves, when applied to surface wounds have astringent and healing properties. This plant should not be
confused with the Madagascar periwinkle, a tropical plant, which is Catharanthus roseus, or the Sadabahar in
Hindi, and is cultivated for its valuable medicinal properties.

Through primrose tufts in that green bower

The periwinkle trailed its wreathes,
And tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
- Wordsworth
 COMMELINA
Commelina forkalii Commelinaceae

The beautiful commelina belongs to the spiderwort family. This is an unusually pretty blue wild flower and can be
seen in the rains till the beginning of the winter. There are several different varieties of commelinas found all over
India, growing at a height of up to 3500 m.
The stems are fleshy, tinged with pink and the leaves are narrowly oblong, with pointed tips. The petals are a
beautiful sky-blue and have an orchid-like appearance, with one petal being lighter than the others. When the flower
withers away, its place is taken by a capsule which has three smooth seeds in it. The shape of the seed case fe
clearly divided into three sections, when viewed from the outside.
This plant flowers in the summer and the rains. Look for it in fields, gardens and wasteland. Animals like to graze
on this plant and the young shoots are eaten as a vegetable. Kankawa, as the plant is commonly known is very
good for making, 'pakoras’. The other names which are used often are Kana and Kanteri.
The commelina is used in herbal medicine for remedies for inflammation of the skin.
 WILD CHICORY
Chinchorium intybus Compositae

Chicory is a beautiful perennial with violet-blue blooms, an unusual shade in flowers. These close in the rain but
are open in sunny weather. A chicory plant can grow to about a metre in height and is found around the edges of
fields and verges of country roads. It blooms in the north-western plains in the winter and in the hills, where it grows
to about 2400 m. all through the summer.
This is a somewhat rough textured, erect plant with many branches. The stem is grooved and the large lower
leaves are coarsely lobed and grow in a rosette at the base of the plant. The upper leaves are small, linear and
covered with downy hair. The flowers are large and have petals that fan out from the centre like blue rays.
The chicory plant has a long taproot that is dried and roasted and added to coffee to improve the flavour. It is an
old medicinal plant and is still used for improving eyesight and the skin. The plant is useful for problems of the liver,
gallbladder and diabetes.
We call the plant Kasni, and it is used as a salad and vegetable. The endive is a cultivated form of this species.
This plant is also known as the succory plant and grows all over Europe, North Africa, north America and western
Asia. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Egyptians have been growing it for the last 2000 years
and the word chicory comes from an Egyptian word. The word succory comes from the Latin, succurrene, which
means to run under, because of the deep tap root.
 WATER HYACINTH
Eichhornia crassipes Pontederiaceae

The purple-blue spikes of this flower can be seen growing in rivers, jheels and ponds all over India. Actually, this
plant is so rampant that it has begun to choke streams, rivers and canals and is now considered a pest. The water
hyacinth comes from tropical South America and has been naturalised in India. Some think that it was brought in by
a British woman as an ornamental plant for her pond in the last century.
Pest or not, it is very pretty with its purple-blue colour with one of the petals touched with gold and peacock-
blue hues. The flowers grow on a spike of about a foot tall which in turn, reminds one of so many candles being held
aloft on the water. The flowers last only for a day.
The cordate leaves are large and shiny. The leaf stalks or petioles are very swollen and keep the whole plant
buoyant on the water. The stalks resemble floats and are not at all like stalks till one looks at them carefully. Some
experiments have been made to convert the leaves into paper and even manure for fields since the plant has such a
prolific rate of growth, but this has not been such a success. The water hyacinth is very difficult to eradicate; it has to
be removed regularly from the roots, even then it returns to grow, choking the habitat of other plants and adversely
affecting the ecology of that area. To a certain extent it is useful in absorbing toxins from water but its role is limited
in this respect because it prevents other plants from growing.