The stems are upright, usually with a one-sided spike of large, pale yellow, spurred flowers, 20 – 50 in number. The spur, 1-1.3cm long, contains nectar and is almost as long as the petals. The underlip has a deep yellow to orange, swollen centre and it closes the entrance to the flower parts so tightly that pollination requires strong insects such as bees and bumblebees (Bombus species) to put sufficient weight on it to activate the spring-like opening. Some short-tongued bees may make a short cut to the nectar by biting a hole in the spur.

The plant is a nectar food plant for a large number of insects.

Bluish-green leaves up to 6cm long are narrow with a distinct mid-rib, the margins slightly rolled under and arranged at close intervals around the stem beneath the flower spike.

Roots may be up to 1 m deep enabling the plant to withstand dry conditions and survive the winter underground. Side shoots develop into daughter plants producing dense groups of genetically identical plants.

The fruit is a capsule with pores. The tiny disc-shaped seeds, up to 3,200 per plant, are shaken out when ripe and distributed further by the wind.

This is a perennial plant but without stolons (runners) so doesn’t spread laterally. Grows in dense clumps, the stems are weak and radiate in a spreading fashion from the base, sometimes only the flowering tips bend upwards in an upright fashion. This gives the impression of shorter stems than they really are. Nevertheless, they rarely reach the maximum of 40cm. Stem lengths do not normally exceed 25cm in the Lobau.

Blooming usually begins in May but recent warmer Spring weather has pushed forward the flowering time to include April.

Petals are light blue with darker lines; the centre of the flower is white. There are 2 stamens (male organs with dark blue anthers) and a single long style (female organ carrying a stigma at the tip that catches pollen grains).

This is a Central and south European species that thrives in sunny locations on the edges of woods in grassy places.

It is a perennial plant that overwinters in the form of underground stems or rhizomes.

The form of the flowers is similar to those of Veronica austriaca as described above but the plant differs in various ways. It grows in grassy woodland edges as opposed to dry grassland areas and is taller with more erect stems. (The Austrian Speedwell is lower growing with prostrate stems). The inflorescence spike is longer and finer, drooping in the early stages before the flowers are fully open. It flowers later than Austrian Speedwell, blooms first appearing in late May, early June. The leaves are broader and thinner textured with a regular dentate margin.

(These identifications require further corroboration and validation. )

This is an annual, sometimes overwintering biannual plant, reproducing from seed. It has a weak stem and prostrate growth forming a dense ground cover. Although the stem can reach up to 30cm, it never roots along its length.

The flowers are roughly a centimetre wide and are sky-blue with dark stripes and white centres. Although not evident at first glance, they are slightly zygomorphic (bilaterally symetrical with one vertical plane of symmetry), growing singly on long, slender, hairy stalks in the leaf axils.