PELLITORY-OF-THE-WALL 173 



Wall Speedwell is strictly a sancl-lo\inL;- plant, orovvini;- on sand 

 soil, on walls, and on o-ravel. 



The second Latin name refers to a supposed preference tor arable 

 land, but this should be applied rather to V. agresiis. 



The plant is called Corn Speedwell, which is equally a misnomer. 



This species is distinguished from / '. agrcstis by its erect stem, 

 nearly stalkless flowers, smaller seed capsules, forming a spike when ripe. 



Essential SpeciI'IC Ciiakactkrs: — 



235. Veronica aji'ciisis, L. — Stem erect, leaves cordate, crenate, 

 lower petioled, upper bract-like, flowers in a terminal, la.x, spiked raceme, 

 pale-blue, tube of corolla short, capsule obcordate, seeds flat. 



Pellitory-of-the-Wall (Parietaria ramitlora, Miench) 



I'his is a ru[)eslral plant, not foLind earlier than the present day, 

 ranging in the N. Temperate Zone in Europe, N. Africa, and Western 

 Asia. In CJreat ISrilain it is not found in the Isle of Man or the 

 following Scottish counties: Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Roxburgh, Lin- 

 lithgow, and in the E. Highlands, not in Fife or S. Perth, Forfar, not 

 in W. Highlands, N. Highlands, Northern Lsles, except as an escape, 

 but from Ross southward elsewhere. It is a native of Ireland and 

 the Channel Islands. 



Pellitory-of-the-Wall is fond of growing on old walls, such as those 

 of ruins, or on walls generally. A favourite habitat is the tower of 

 a church. It may be found also in hedge-banks, but it is largely 

 rupestral. Clustering rinmd the base of a tower in clumps the stems 

 are numerous, erect, brittle, herbaceous, reddish, branched, downy, 

 rounded, finely furrowed, with curled hairs, the branches alternate, 

 spreading. The leaves are hairy, oblong, lance-shaped, with a long 

 point each end, wiili transparent dots on slender leaf-stalks. 



The flowers are in the axils of the leaves, small, bisexual, in an 

 involucre of 3-6 lobes, and stiffly hairy and stalkless. The calyx is 

 flat or bell-shaped, or tubular, hairy, erect. There is no corolla. The 

 fruit is small and enclosed in the perianth, the seed being single. 



Pellitory-of-the-W'all is 1-2 ft. high, blowers may be found any 

 time between July and September. This is a deciduous, herbaceous, 

 perennial plant, propagated by division. 



The flowers arc generally proterogynous, and when so mainly 

 hermaphrodite, or of three forms — complete, male, and female — the 

 stamens develop after the stigma has protruded irom the bud, and 

 they explode as in the Nettle, when the stigma cannot be pollinated. 



