A herbaceous perennial plant with hairy green stems 10-50 cm long that cover the ground in mats and send up short vertical shoots which bear flowers. The leaves are opposite, shortly stalked, generally about an inch long, oval and attenuated into their foot-stalks, their margins finely toothed. The flowers are in dense, axillary, manyflowered racemes, 1 1/2 to 6 inches long, the individual flowers nearly stalkless on the main flower-stalk, their corollas only 1/6 inch across, pale blue with dark blue stripes and bearing two stamens with a very long style. The capsule is inversely heart-shaped and notched, longer than the oblong, narrow sepals.

Alterative, astringent, mildly diuretic, mildly expectorant, stomachic and tonic (leaves and roots)

Plants For A Future
botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Speedwell, Common - Herb Profile

Aucubin, mannitol, tannin (plant)

The leaves and roots are used in the treatment of pectoral and nephritic complaints, haemorrhages, skin diseases and the treatment of wounds. An infusion of the dried plant is useful in coughs, catarrh, etc., and is a simple and effective remedy in skin diseases.

James A Duke and Maryl Fulton. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs - 2nd Edition, P: 690, CRC Press July 2002.