SWISS FLOWERS. 97 



flowers grow two or three together, at the end of a pinkish 

 stalk from three to six inches high; they are of a very 

 pretty purplish-blue colour. The leaves are roundish, or 

 kidney-shaped, and leathery, about the size of a shilling, on 

 long stalks, spreading from the root, of a pretty bright 

 green. The Soldanella appears soon after the melting of 

 the snow, and may be seen with its flowers peeping through 

 the white mass. Sometimes varieties are made according 

 to the number of the blossoms, or the length of the style, 

 but the plant seems to be nearly the same. In moist places 

 on the Jura, and Alpine mountains, delighting in turfy soil : 

 Glacier du Rhone ; Dole ; Colombier ; Reculet ; Mont Sem- 

 noz, Mont Mery; Little St. Bernard. 



77. Veronica.— Speed^well. 



(PLATE LXII.) 



There is a temptation to pass by this family, as too well 

 known and easily distinguished by the two, and only two, 

 prominent stamens which are its characteristic mark. But, 

 the family known, the individual is often difficult to distin- 

 guish, Bentham gives sixteen, and the Swiss botanists 

 make about twenty-five, species. Some of the leading dis- 

 tinctions depend on whether the flowers are in terminal or 



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