1885-86.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club. 303 



This plant is well known in every field and garden, and may per- 

 haps be characterised by some irate farmer or gardener as " a per- 

 nicious weed," seeing it has a decided preference for cultivated 

 ground, and when it has obtained a footing it is very difficult to 

 eradicate. It has a white corolla, sometimes tinged with blue. Its 

 leaves are small, pale-green in colour, with regular serratures ; and 

 it continues to flower till killed off by frost. In mild winters it 

 survives, and flowers the next summer, thus becoming a biennial. 

 The last of our annual forms — V. polita, or the Grey Field Speed- 

 well — is by some considered as merely a variety of V, agrestis. 

 But its flowers are larger, and ivholly blue ; and the serratures of 

 the leaves are deeper, and not so regular. By these marks it may 

 be readily distinguished. 



It may be interesting to compare the occurrence of some of the 

 Veronicas above mentioned, near our own city, with their presence 

 in the West. Mr Turner, of the Glasgow Natural History Society, 

 informs me, for instance, that V. Buxbaumii " occurs in some abun- 

 dance about Loch Lomond and elsewhere in the West, but is very 

 rare in the immediate neighbourhood of Glasgow " — just as in the 

 neighbourhood of our own city. " It is a weed, however," he adds, 

 " that appears to be spreading, so that it may probably be too 

 common before long." Again, as regards V. 'Anagallis, which is 

 found at Duddingston and some other places with us, Mr Turner 

 says it " is very rare in the district, though it occurs in a few coast 

 stations. There is only one inland station recorded for it, — ' near 

 Flenders, beyond Busby.' " V. scutellata and V. montana, which 

 are both rare with us, the latter especially, Mr Turner adds " are 

 both frequent in the neighbourhood of the city, — the former grow- 

 ing in boggy places, and the latter in woods and shady places." 



A word or two in conclusion as to the drying of Veronicas. My 

 own experience is, I daresay, similar to that of most who have 

 tried thus to preserve them — namely, that they are " eminently 

 unsatisfactory." The gamopetalous corolla falls off generally 

 soon after the plants are gathered ; while in the process of drying, 

 a sad change of colour frequently takes place, — what was before 

 so bright and beautiful becoming a mass of dirty black. In order 

 to obviate these untoward conditions as far as possible, the plants 

 should be transferred to bibulous paper as soon as gathered, and 

 submitted to pressure by strapping. On reaching home they 

 should be placed between fresh sheets of paper, and a warm iron 

 passed over them. By these means there is some chance that the 

 blossoms may be preserved, and the Colour to some extent remain 

 intact. But if any of the members of the Field Club know of a 

 better method of preserving these beautiful, humble wayside flowers, 

 I for one shall feel very glad indeed to hear of it. 



