Blue Water-Speedwell

This herbaceous perennial wildflower is ½–2½' tall, branching occasionally. The stems are light green, terete, glabrous, and rather stout; sometimes there is a ring of purple where pairs of leaves join the stem. The opposite leaves are up to 4" long and 1½" across; they are lanceolate, elliptic, oblanceolate, or ovate in shape and either smooth or serrated along their margins. The leaf bases are sessile or clasp the stem. The upper surfaces of the leaves are medium green and hairless, while their lower surfaces are pale to medium green and hairless. Both axillary and terminal racemes of flowers are produced; individual racemes have 20-65 flowers and they are 2-6" long. Individual flowers span about ¼" across, consisting of a green calyx with 4 lanceolate teeth, a pale blue or lavender corolla with 4 petaloid lobes, 2 stamens, and a pistil with a single style. Fine dark blue or purple lines radiate from the center of the corolla, which is slightly white or yellowish green. The slender ascending pedicels are about ¼" long. At the base of each pedicel, there is a linear green bract of the same length or a little shorter. The central stalk of each raceme, the pedicels, and the calyces of the flowers are either glabrous or glandular-pubescent. The blooming period occurs from late spring to late summer and lasts about 2-3 months. On each raceme, only a few flowers are in bloom at the same time. Each flower is replaced by a 2-celled seed capsule that is about ¼" long, ovoid, slightly flattened, and slightly notched at its apex; the outer surface of the capsule is either glabrous or glandular-pubescent. Each cell of the capsule contains several tiny seeds, which are distributed to some extent by either wind or water. After the fertile shoots die down, they are replaced by sterile shoots during the fall. These sterile shoots consist of low rosettes of oval leaves that taper to winged petioles. The root system is fibrous and either rhizomatous or stoloniferous. This wildflower reproduces vegetatively and sexually.