Water Speedwell

(Veronica anagallis-aquatica)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: NRCS Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Water Speedwell (Veronica anagallis-aquatica L.)

Identification: A tall, erect plant. Flowers blue to purple, with 4 petals, and 2 spreading stamens. Petals streaked with dark and lower petal small and narrower than the other 3. Flowers with long flower stalks (pedicels) and arranged in long, loose spikes (racemes) arising from the leaf axils. Leaves opposite, ovate, with smooth outer margins. Upper and middle leaves sessile to the stem. Lower leaves with long tapering petioles. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Across Canada and most of the United States except for the southeast. Also native to Europe and Asia.

Habitat: Water Speedwell is found in swamps and in quiet streams.

Flowering period: May to September.

Similar Species: The aquatic habitat and the smooth, margined leaves easily identify this species of Veronica.

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