Veronica anagallis-aquatica, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 248

39. V. anagallis-aquatica L. , Sp. Pl. 12 (1753)

(inch V. lysimachioides Boiss. ).

Perennial (rarelyannual). Stem (5-)30-60(-100) cm, erect, simple or much-branched at the base, glabrous or glandular-pubescent. Leaves 20-100 mm, light green, glabrous, the lower ovate, often petiolate, subentire, the upper ovatelanceolate, more or less amplexicaul, irregularly serrate near the apex. Racemes glabrous or glandular-pubescent, up to 3 times as long as subtending leaves; pedicels 4-7 mm, erect, erecto-patent, or arcuate-ascending, usually at least as long as the linear bracts. Calyx-segments erect in fruit, but not closely appressed to capsule; corolla 5-10 mm in diameter, blue with violet veins. Capsule 2-5-4 x 2-5-3- 5 mm, orbicular, ovate or elliptical; style 1 - 5-2 mm. 2« = 36. Streams, river-banks, and other wet places. Europe except the extreme north. All except Fa Sb.

Plants with lax, usually glandular-pubescent racemes and arcuate-ascending pedicels have been distinguished as subsp. divaricata Krösche , Allgem. Bot. Zeitschr. 18: 83 (1912). Such variants occur throughout the range of the species, and do not therefore merit subspecific distinction.