When I started out as a student of botany over 40 years ago there was one vital piece of equipment that we were expected to carry at all times – a hand lens. So when we found a plant, like the germander speedwell Veronica chamaedrys in this photograph - we could take a really close look at it even if it was an easy one to identify and we knew what it was....
......first scrutinising the floral characteristics, vital for identification, and then the rest of the plant, which often revealed...
........ unsuspected beauty. Germander speedwell has two straight lines of hairs running down opposite sides of the stem. The leaves are in opposite pairs and their orientation shifts through 90 degrees at alternate nodes along the stem - and so do the lines of hairs between successive nodes.
The other key element of the training was to draw identification features like this. These days, thanks to digital photography, it’s easy to record images of them but a simple annotated drawing is a far more effective way of learning the key differences. It involves careful observation, trying to work out the relationships between parts of the object – you really need to look closely at it and understand it. Which is why – I guess – this simple ID character to germander speedwell has remained firmly stuck in my brain for four decades.
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