The speedwells (Veronica species), according to Mrs Grieve in A Modern Herbal (1931), are some of our most beautiful native flowers. They are small meadow and stream plants that flower in the blue and violet spectrum, looking sparky, neat and vulnerable (they are actually tough wild survivors).
The name ‘speedwell’ has an old meaning of thrive or get better, as in ‘speed you well’. This reflects the medicinal value our ancestors accorded the plants as a panacea or cure-all mainly in tea form. Its uses included as an expectorant for treating bronchitis and asthma, as relief for arthritis and rheumatism, and for haemorrhages, skin, liver and kidneys.
The tea was preferred by the great Linnaeus to black tea, and in the eighteenth century was called thé d’Europe, a substitute on the domestic scale for expensive imported tea from China and India. We find it very restorative when we are feeling weary and tired.
And yes, it does speed you up, as one of our students discovered. She cycled a few miles to a workshop we were holding and the day left her drained. We offered her a speedwell foot bath, and after it she sped home in record time and said she felt energised all evening.