Veronica catenata
Common name
pink water speedwell
Family
Plantaginaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
NVS code
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.
VERCAT
Conservation status
Not applicable
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.
Distribution
Canterbury
Habitat
Shallow water, swamps and margins of waterways.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
OBL: Obligate Wetland
Almost always is a hydrophyte, rarely in uplands (non-wetlands).
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.
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’.
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.