Veronica americana, variously called American brooklime or American speedwell, is a flowering plant native to temperate and arctic Asia and North America where it grows in streams and bottomlands.
It is a herbaceous perennial with glabrous stems long that bear terminal or axillary racemes or spikes of soft violet flowers. The leaves are long and 3 to 20 times as long as wide, short-petiolate, glabrous, serrate to almost entire.
The plant can be confused with Scutellaria (skullcap) and other members of the mint family. Members of the mint family have square sided stems, and Veronica species have rounded stems.Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford,
Taxonomy In 1830 Constantine Samuel Rafinesque described a variety of Veronica beccabunga he named americana. The botanist George Bentham raised to species status in a publication published in 1846 where he credited Lewis David de Schweinitz, giving the taxa its accepted name. It is classified in the genus Veronica which is part of the Plantaginaceae family. It does not have any accepted varieties or forms, but there are three among its eight synonyms.
Table of Synonyms Name Year Rank Notes Veronica americana f. albiflora 1948 form = het. Veronica americana var. crassula 1900 variety = het. Veronica americana f. rosea 1917 form = het. Veronica anagallis 1832 species = het. Veronica beccabunga var. americana 1843 variety = het., nom. illeg. Veronica beccabunga var. americana 1830 variety ≡ hom. Veronica crenatifolia 1903 species = het. Veronica intermedia 1824 species = het., nom. illeg. Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym
Uses American speedwell is used both as food and as a medicinal plant. It is rich in nutrients and is reported to have a flavor similar to that of watercress. As long as the water source is not contaminated, the entire plant (sans roots) can be eaten raw.
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