Blue water speedwell
Veronica anagallis-aquatica
Family · Plantaginaceae · Irritating
The fleshy in-water plant with loose spikes of pale blue flowers striped darker, rising from the leaf axils in pairs. It grows mixed in with watercress.
Streams and ditches · Fields and pasture
Also known aswater speedwell, brooklime
How to tell it
A thick, hollow, smooth stem, prostrate at the base then upright, in water or mud. Opposite, stalkless, elongated leaves clasping the stem, slightly toothed. Racemes of pale blue or lilac flowers with darker stripes, always in pairs, one on each side, at the leaf axils.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No use to recommend. It was eaten in salads like watercress, and shares exactly the same two risks: fascioliasis from pasture water and the neighbouring hemlock water dropwort. The same rule applies: nothing is gathered in a stream.