Veronica scutellata Marsh Speedwell

A slender, often rather straggeling, perennial speedwell which grows in marshy places which are usually at least mildly acidic such as wet ditches, marshy areas at the sides of streams and ponds, fen meadows, wet heathland, bogs and marshy grassland. Its stems have narrow, opposite leaves and bear small whitish flowers on long stalks. It is widespread in Britain but most commmon in the west and north and found throughout Wales. However, it has undergone a significant decline in recent decades mostly as a result of habitat loss due to drainage, negelect and lack of proper management, such as undergrazing. It has a scattered and local distribution in West Glamorgan where it is found in wet areas on the Gower Commons and in marshy grasslands in the South Wales Coalfield.

Native