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Glite Dictionary
corn speedwell

corn speedwell

9.6
A small annual plant with tiny blue flowers that grows in open ground like roadsides
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : verónica de los maizales
  • The delicate blue flowers of corn speedwell are easy to spot in early spring.

Examples

  • Gardeners often remove corn speedwell as it can spread quickly in disturbed soil.

  • A patch of corn speedwell was growing by the side of the road.

  • The corn speedwell blooms in early spring.

  • Have you seen the corn speedwell in the garden?

  • A patch of corn speedwell was growing by the side of the road.

  • Gardeners often remove corn speedwell as it can spread quickly in disturbed soil.

  • The delicate blue flowers of corn speedwell are easy to spot in early spring.

Synonyms

Veronica arvensis
vscorn speedwell
  • Specialized
9.5

A small annual plant with blue flowers that grows in fields and waste places in Europe and North America

is the common name used instead of the scientific form

Surface Forms

corn speedwell singular
corn speedwells plural

Morphology

corn + speedwell

This is a compositional plant name: 'speedwell' is a flowering plant and 'corn' specifies an association with corn/fields or cereal crops, so the combined form denotes a type of speedwell found in such places. A B1 learner who knows both constituents can therefore infer it refers to a particular species or variety of speedwell, since naming plants by headword + habitat/host is a transparent, cross-linguistic pattern.

Etymology

Corn speedwell gets its name from where the plant grows. The small blue flower called speedwell was often found in 'corn' fields, and so the name means the speedwell that grows in grain fields.