Βερόνικα η ιξώδης
Etymology of Veronica ixodes: The genus's name "Veronica" derives from Saint Veronica, the woman who gave Jesus a cloth to wipe his face while carrying the cross on the way to Calvary, and so named because the markings on some species supposedly resemble those on her sacred handkerchief. The species is called "ixodes" which comes from the Ancient Greek "ἰξώδης" [ixodis or ixodes] and means ''sticky", for obvious reasons.
There are nine Veronica species/taxa growing on their own in the Cypriot habitat.
Veronica ixodes is encountered only in central mountainous Cyprus at high altitudes between 1300 metres up to the top of mount Olympus (1950 metres). The specimens in the pictures come from Kykkos, Tsakistra (Nicosia district), at an altitude of 132o metres. The species in Cyprus is flowered usually between May and August, but these ones where bloomed from March.
How to identify Veronica ixodes:
Veronica arvensis' flowers have a white color like Veronica cymbalaria, but their inflorescence is very different. Additionally, ixodes' flowers are tiny, between 2-3mm in diameter, whilst cymbalaria's are around double this size. Finally, cymbalaria's leaves are 5-9-lobed, and this is not the case for ixodes; its bracts are similar to its basal leaves but smaller, for ixodes the bracts are very different from the basal leaves.
