Growing mainly on boggy, damp, acid ground, this is a delicate perennial which creeps on weak stems, rising to 20cm tall, bearing pale blue flowers in racemes in opposite pairs from June to August. The flowers (6-7mm across) are 4-lobed with dark lines, the calyx-lobes shorter than the corolla. The long leaves (15-40mm) are opposite, linear-lanceolate, without stalks and sometimes tinged red. This is a native wildflower which belongs to the family Plantaginaceae.
I first identified this flower in Roundwood, Co Wicklow in 1976 and photographed it near Tullycanna, Co Wexford in 2007.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
