CLASS II. ORDKR I.] VERONICA. 5 



towns. The caterpillars of the Privet Hawkmoth, (Sphinx ligustris,) 

 may I'rcquently be found feeding upon the leaves of this plant; and 

 specimens of the moth are best obtained by feeding the caterpillars in 

 a cage made for the purpose, or in common garden-pots covered with 

 glass, until they change into the chrysalis state ; they may then be 

 removed into a dry cool place until the following spring; during the 

 months of April or May, they should be exposed to the influence of 

 the sun, and in a short time the perfect moth will make its appearance. 



GENUS II. VERONICA. Speedwell. 

 Nat. Ord. Scrophclakine^. 



Gen. Char. Perianth double. Calyx of one piece, inferior, persistent, 

 divided into four deep segments. Corolla wheel-shaped (rotate), 

 deeply four cleft, the lower segment smallest. Capsule two-celled. 

 The derivation of the name of this beautiful genus has much 

 puzzled botanists : Sir J. E. Smith says, " Its common etymology 

 is of a mule kind between Greek and Latin, from verus, or rather 

 vera, true, and sijcov, a figure ; and this, illiterate and barbarous 

 as it is, has the sanction of the superstitious legend of St. Vero- 

 nica, whose handkerchief is recorded to have received the impres- 

 sion of our Saviour's face, as he used it in bearing his cross to the 

 place of crucifixion. But we find nothing analogous in any of 

 the herbs which have borne this name, nor any character, true or 

 false, stamped upon them, exce])t that of their own peculiar 

 beauty." There exists to this day a difl'erence of o])inion as to 

 the pronunciation of the name; and it was to the settling of this 

 question that the controversial inquiry was mainly directed. " If," 

 adds the learned authority above quoted, " there be any truth in 

 its Greek origin, the i must be long; but if otherwise, the analogy 

 of Betonica may justify the usual practice of throwing the accent 

 on the o." 



* Spikes or racemes terminal. (Root perennial.) 

 1. V. spica'ta, (Fig. 5.) spiked Speedwell. Spike terminal, stem erect, 

 undivided, branching at the base, leaves opposite, oblong, tapering 

 at the base, serrated, downy, lower or radical ones broader, ovate 

 and stalked. 

 Enghsh Botany, t. 2. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 17. — Lindley, Sy- 

 nopsis, p. 188. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 5. 



Stem four to ten inches high, erect, downy. Lower Leaves opposite, 

 broader, serrated or crenated in the middle, entire towards the extremi- 

 ties, upper ones long and narrow, serrated or entire, sometimes alternate. 

 Spike terminal. Flowers numerous dark blue. Bracteas linear. Ca- 

 lyx remarkably downy twice as long as broad. Capsule in the imma- 

 ture state downy. 



