i8 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



Ev^ery one knows the little forget-me-nots, and where to find 

 them in the wet, grassy banks of brooks. 



"The sweet forget-me-nots 

 That grow for happy lovers." 



Tennyson. 



They nestle modestly among mosses and galiums, peeping with 

 mild eyes around clumps of onoclea fern. The flowers bloom in 

 long, thin, leafless spikes. The stems and leaves, when rubbed 

 upward, are somewhat rough. 



The cultivated forget-me-not is M. pahistris, and is found 

 sometimes wild, escaped from cultivation. 



Those who have seen the blue forget-me-not in shady, wet 

 places in Europe, with its large, bright-blue corolla and its full 

 spike of blossoms, will say that we do not know this flower. Our 

 blossoms are few and scanty, buds and fruit occupying the most 

 of the flowering raceme. 



There is a white species (i1/. verna) with bristly calyx and stem. 

 The flower of this is very small, and it prefers dry ground. 



22. Water Speedwell 



Veronica Anagallis. — Family, Figwort. Color, pale blue, 

 lined with darker blue. Leaves, opposite, entire, or serrate, 

 acute, narrow. Base clasping, heart-shaped. Time, summer. 



Corolla, 4 -parted and spreading, wheel -shaped. Calyx, 

 4-parted. Stamens, 2. 



The small, delicate flowers grow in spikes, which start from 

 the axils of the upper leaves, and are thus in pairs. 



A plant whose stem creeps and roots along the earth, with the 

 tip and flowering branches standing erect. American Brooklime 

 ( V. Americana) differs in having petioled leaves. 



23. Mud wort 



Limosella aquatica, var. tenuifb/ia. — Family, Figwort. Col- 

 or, white or purplish. Leaves, Heshy, thread-like, in clusters, at 

 the base of tlie flowering stem. 



