Speedwell
Parts Usually Used
The flowering plant, leaves, root
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Speedwell is a small perennial plant; the creeping, woody, hairy stem sends up branches from 3 to 10 inches high and is rooted at the joints. The opposite, oblong, grayish-green leaves are soft and have finely toothed margins. The light blue flowers have violet streaks and grow in dense, axillary, spikelike racemes from May to August. The fruit is an obovate, compressed, hairy capsule.
Another variety: Thyme-leaved speedwell (V. serpyllifolia); leaf juice used by Native Americans for earaches; leaves poulticed for boils; tea used for chills and coughs.
Where Found
Found in dry meadows, waste places, fields, and woods over the eastern half of North America, as far south as North Carolina and Tennessee.
Medicinal Properties
Alterative, diuretic, expectorant, stomachic, tonic
Biochemical Information
Aucubin
Legends, Myths and Stories
Similar in flavor to Chinese green tea, Speedwell tea is a common tea in Europe and is, in fact, known there as The` de l’Europe. Of the 20 or so Veronica species that occur in North America, almost all are naturalized weeds from Europe and Asia. They are often found growing on lawns in the United States. Most species have blue veins on violet-blue flowers, and a whitish center.
Uses
Historically, herbalists employed the plant as a general tonic and primarily utilized it as an expectorant for respiratory complaints such as coughs, catarrh, and asthma. Traditional practitioners also administered it for jaundice, rheumatism, gout, stomach ailments, and migraine headaches, as well as to encourage sweating, urination, and menstruation. Additionally, the plant was utilized in gargles for mouth and throat sores, and applied externally in folk medicine for chronic skin conditions.
Warning
One component, aucubin, though liver-protective, anti-oxidant, and antiseptic, can be toxic in grazing animals.
Bibliography
American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
copyright 1974. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974