Veronica anagallis-aquatica
L. Blue Water-speedwellRhizomatous perennial, glabrous apart from glandular hairs on inflorescence; stems stout, soft, hollow, erect, to 80 cm or more high, 2–6 mm diam., green, bearing racemes from upper nodes. Leaves more or less sessile, elliptic to narrow-ovate, 9.5–12.5 cm long, 4–45 mm wide, apex acute, base narrowed, margins finely toothed. Racemes 5–12 cm long, c. 15–40-flowered; peduncle mostly 2–4 cm long; fruiting pedicels ascending, 4–7 mm long, longer than bracts. Calyx-lobes 2–3.5 mm long, 1–2 mm wide in fruit; corolla 2–5 mm long, blue or lilac. Capsule ovoid or circular, 2.3–4.3 mm long, 2–4.2 mm wide, not strongly compressed, not or scarcely emarginate; style 1–1.3 mm long. Flowers spring and summer.
VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, NIS, EGL, EGU, HSF, HNF, VAlp. Also naturalised SA, Qld, NSW,ACT. Native to Europe and Asia. In Victoria, localised, but locally common along watercourses in the east (e.g. Livingstone Ck near Omeo, Swifts Creek, Snowy and Genoa Rivers), tributaries of the upper Murray River in the Tallangatta-Corryong district and the lower Yarra River near Melbourne.
Briggs, B.G.; Barker, W.R. (1999). Veronica. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 509–516. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
