Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

WATER SPEEDWELL

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Veronica anagallis-aquatica L.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-36 inches

Family: Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, ascending or decumbent, stout, simple or much-branched, glabrous or sometimes minutely glandular-hairy in inflorescence.

Leaves:

Opposite, simple, mostly sessile and clasping, broadly lanceolate to ovate, 1 to 3 inches long, .25 to 1.5 inch wide, glabrous, fleshy; margins toothed or entire; tips pointed.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, 2 to 5 inches long, 30-60-flowered, in leaf axils; bracts reduced, lanceolate to linear.

Flowers:

Weakly 2-lipped; stalks about 1/4 inch long, ascending or upcurved; calyces deeply 4-parted, segments broadly lanceolate; corollas 1/5 to 2/5 inch wide, irregularly 4-lobed, blue or pale violet with darker purplish lines; stamens 2, each with 2 equal, somewhat parallel anther cells.

Fruits:

Capsules, 2-lobed, slightly longer than wide; seeds tiny, numerous.

Habitat:

Stream banks, wet meadows, and in water of springs and slow-flowing streams.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Comments:

Naturalized aquatic plant found throughout most of the U.S.

Water speedwell inflorescence