58 
frequent, but subject to much variety in size and appearance in 
different soils and aspects. V. officinalis; in grassy places fairly 
plentiful, though neither so common nor so conspicuous as 
V. chamedrys, the lovely and brilliant azure of whose coralla 
forms so striking an ornament on dry hedgebanks and patches of 
waste ground, in which situations its distribution is all but universal. 
V. montana ; not exactly a common species, though locally plen- 
tiful; in Flimby Wood it may be seen in perfection— very much 
resembling a sickly Germander with its colour washed partly out; 
this leads me to mention that in drying Veronicas for the 
herbarium, it is desirable to subject them to pressure with as 
little delay as possible, as the flowers quickly fade and drop from 
the stem on removal of the plant from the soil. V. scutellata; 
in appearance very unlike the rest of the family, having a weak 
straggling stem, with very narrow pointed leaves and pale-coloured 
flowers; is found chiefly about the edges of boggy pools or marshes ; 
it grows about Salta Moss, and may probably be found wherever 
swamps line the coast. V. anagadlis; not a very common, but a 
widely distributed species, luxuriating in deep spongy bogs or by 
the edges of slow-running streams. The finest examples on the 
coast line appear in some “scughs” between Allonby and Edder- 
side; but these, fine as they are, must yield the palm to the 
gigantic specimens that flourish in the well-known Newton Reigny 
Moss, about three miles west of Penrith. V. deccabunga, better 
known as Brooklime, is a very common gutter-side plant, not 
without repute in Cumberland for its medicinal uses. Luphrasia 
officinalis; common everywhere on the shore-line as inland, 
Bartsia odontides is also a quite common species, preferring 
moist localities, and apparently succeeding as well on sterile clay 
or peaty soils as on better-class loams. edicularis palustris and 
P. sylvatica, are frequently found; the larger, or Marsh Louse- 
wort, has leaves pinnate in form, with deeply toothed segments ; 
these leaves disposed in the shape of a rosette, before the stem 
is pushed upwards, form a very pretty object. hinanthus crista- 
galli; “Hen-pens” is a common plant of all our meadows, not 
at all popular with those who formerly wielded the scythe, before 
