Species

Veronica catenata

Etymology

Veronica: Named after Saint Veronica, who gave Jesus her veil to wipe his brow as he carried the cross through Jerusalem, perhaps because the common name of this plant is 'speedwell'. The name Veronica is often believed to derive from the Latin vera 'truth' and iconica 'image', but it is actually derived from the Macedonian name Berenice which means 'bearer of victory'.

Common Name(s)

pink water speedwell

Authority

Veronica catenata Pennel

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief Description

Sprawling perennial herb up to 25 cm tall with opposite stalkless leaves and small (c. 7 mm across) pink to pinkish white flowers.

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

VERCAT

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Distribution

Canterbury

Habitat

Shallow water, swamps and margins of waterways.

Features

Fibrous-rooted, perennial plant, sprawling to erect c. 25 cm tall, hairless throughout, or slightly glandular-short-hairy among the flowers. Stems often purplish in colour. Leaves opposite, mostly linear to lanceolate, stalkless and mostly clasping, 1.5-7 (9) cm x 0.3-2 (2.5) cm wide, shallowly toothed to entire. Flowers many in elongated, long-stalked clusters from leaf axils. Sepals highly variable in form and size. Corolla pink or pinkish white 5-7 mm wide. Fruit a capsule almost round 3 mm across. Seeds numerous, 0.5 mm long or less.

Similar Taxa

Similar to V. anagallis-aquatic but V. catenata is smaller with much narrower leaves, the flowers stalk is more spreading, and the flowers are pink.

Flowering

Summer - autumn

Flower Colours

Red / Pink,White

Fruiting

Autumn

Year Naturalised

1944

Origin

Temperate Eurasia, North America

Reason for Introduction

Probably a soil seed contaminant or contaminant of ornamental pond plants

Control Techniques

Not controlled in New Zealand.

Attribution

Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA).

References and further reading

Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989).  Wetland plants in New Zealand.   DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.

Popay et al (2010).  An illustrated guide to common weeds of New Zealand, third edition.  NZ Plant Protection Society Inc, 416pp.

This page last updated on 21 Aug 2013