The speedwells are well known wild flowers in Britain and throughout Europe. Most are low, spreading plants. With spikes of small flowers along the stems. Each flower, blue in most species, is short-lived, but they open in succession, so give colour over an extended period.

Veronica allionii is a compact species, known simply as the alpine speedwell, as it is a native of the European Alps. It makes a low cushion or mat of olive-green leaves, with spikes of deep violet-blue flowers during the summer, after most other rock garden plants have finished flowering.