SPEEDWELLS. 



What heart does not know 

 Thee, clustered smiler of the bank, where plays 

 The sunbeam on the emerald snake, and strays 

 The dazzling rill, companion of the road. — Elliott. 



MONG the many mi- 

 scientific observers of 

 nature, there are 

 those who possess a 

 sort of general idea 

 of the names of 

 the plants or insects 

 which they cannot help seeing, 

 and who group together under 

 one name many widely differing 

 members of the same family. 

 If there is one genus of plants 

 more ill-used than another in 

 this respect, that one is, as far 

 as my experience goes, the 

 genus Veronica, or Speedwell, 

 various species of which are 

 now beginning to deck our 

 banks and waste places. To 

 those who are in the habit of keeping a 

 " Naturalist's Calendar," after the fashion of good 

 old Gilbert AThite, it cannot fail to be embarrassing 

 to be told — say at the beginning of March, by a 

 trustworthy, but unscientific friend, "I saw the 

 Speedwell in flower to-day." " Which Speedwell?" 

 you naturally ask, and the reply is, " Oh, you must 

 know, the common Speedwell, with a blue flower !" 

 Perhaps, after such a reply, the necessity of the 

 strictest accuracy in all statements concerning 

 Natural Hist 017 is "borne in " upon one more forcibly 

 than is usually the case. But, after all, better that 

 people should know just a little of the wonders 

 spread before them year by year in the green fields, 

 than be altogether ignorant of them ; and it is both 

 unfair and useless to point out faults which we our- 

 selves do not attempt to remedy : so, taking our 

 Speedwells as a subject, let us try if we cannot 

 briefly and plainly point out the resemblances, and, 

 at the same time, the differences which exist between 

 our common species. 

 No. 18. 



We have seventeen species of Veronica, or Speed- 

 well, indigenous to, or at any rate thoroughly estab- 

 lished, in this country ; and of these twelve at least 

 may be considered as generally distributed. To these 

 twelve, therefore, let us more particularly turn our 

 attention, first marking the points of resemblance 

 which are common to all the British species, and 

 then proceeding to note the differences by which each 

 may be distinguished. 



Perhaps the most striking family likeness, common 

 to all our Speedwells, lies in what is usually termed 

 the blossom, or, more correctly, in the coloured and 

 most conspicuous portion of it which is called the 

 corolla. This is most frequently blue; it is mono - 

 petalous (i. e. all in one piece), and is shaped some- 

 what like a cross with rounded ends, save that the 

 lobe or division, which would correspond with the 

 foot of the cross, is always smaller than the other 

 three. Again each blossom of all the species con- 

 tains two stamens and one pistil ; therefore all are 

 placed in the Liimsean class Diandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. All have fibrous roots ; the stems of the 

 tallest species [V. Anagallis) do not exceed two feet 

 in height, while those of the other species seldom 

 attain more than a foot ; and the corollas of all are 

 very fugacious, falling off with, or even without, a 

 touch; to which peculiarity Bishop Mant thus 

 alludes : — 



Be cautious lest you shed 



The petals of the tender flower, 



And shorten thus the little hour, 



At most allotted it to grace 



With transient bloom its native place. 



The twelve species which we are going to consider 

 more especially, maybe conveniently arranged under 

 three heads : — 1. Those which have weak trailing 

 stems, and the flowers of which grow singly in the 

 axils of the leaves—?', e. in the angle formed where 

 the leaf-stalk joins the stem. 2. Those with upright 

 or ascending stems, terminated by a spike of flowers. 



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