FIGWOET TRIBE 5 



" beck," the name for a stream. Another suggested derivation is from the 

 old word "beck," a stream, and "bung," a purse, in allusion to its favourite 

 habitat and the shape of the seed capsule. The Brooklime is commonly 

 called in Scotland AVater-purpie ; and being esteem^ed an excellent purifier 

 of the blood, it is frequently sold with water-cresses, to be eaten as a salad, 

 but is too pungent to be generally agreeable. The leaves are much recom- 

 mended by old herbalists to be made into diet drinks, to be taken in spring, 

 and they are, douljtless, antiscorbutic. 



9. Common Speedwell (F. officinalis). — Leaves elliptical, shortly 

 stalked, serrated ; flowers in dense racemes ; fruit-stalks erect ; stem pro- 

 cumbent, creeping; capsule inversely egg-shaped, triangular, with a wide 

 shallow notch, or straight, as if cut off ; perennial. This is a very variable 

 plant, having in one form a very downy stem and broadly egg-shaped downy 

 leaves ; in another being almost smooth ; and in a third, having small egg- 

 shaped, somewhat lanceolate leaves, and a capsule inversely egg-shaped in 

 form, but without any notch : the stem, too, varies much in height in this 

 Speedwell, which is abundant in many dry woods, though somewhat local. 

 It bears its many-flowered clusters of blue flowers from May to July, but 

 they are too pale and small to render this Speedwell as attractive as most 

 of the genus. The plant was formerly very extensively used both in Sweden 

 and Germany as a substitute for tea, and it had the old French name of Thd 

 de V Europe ; Avhile Danish writers of former days positively asserted that it 

 Avas the identical tea of China. The Germans still pi^ize the Speedwell tea ; 

 and Professor Martyn says that it forms a more astringent and grateful 

 beverage than the Chinese tea ; but Dr. Withering says, that an infusion of 

 the Germander Speedwell makes a still better tea than this plant. In earlier 

 days, when the Chinese tea was costly, and so rare that Pepys could, in 

 1661, note in his Diary, "Sent for a cup of tea, a China drink, of which I 

 had never drvnik before " — in such times Speedwell tea might prove a 

 valuable acquisition to an English meal ; but Ave, Avho have long been used 

 to our daily tea and coffee, have learned to look upon these gentle stimulants 

 as among our necessaries, and are rarely tempted to test the value of the 

 infusions made from the plants of our own woods or fields. Speedwell tea, 

 hoAvever, was believed by our fathers not only to aftbrd present refreshment, 

 but also to strengthen the frame ; and Dutch writers on plants termed this' 

 one "Honour and Praise." Fluellin, too, was one of its Welsh names, and 

 the herb was highly valued by those who so called it, as Avell as by him Avho 

 named it Paul's Betony. Boerhaave said of another of the SpeedAvells 

 (K oiientalis), that he had cured Avith it a hundred different disorders ; and 

 Francus Avrote a book solely on the virtues of this plant, Avhich, according to 

 his narration, had efiected marvellous cures. Hoffman spoke very highly of 

 the virtues of the Speedwell tribe, and many old French writers record cases 

 of their usefulness ; yet, except a slight degree of astringency, they do not 

 seem to possess any peculiar poAvers, though they are all harmless. 



10. Mountain Speedwell {V. montdim). — LeaA'es stalked, broadly 

 egg-shaped, serrated ; fruit-stalks ascending ; capsule roundish, notched at 

 the base and summit, very large and quite flat, smooth, and Avith toothed 

 edges ; stem hairy, prostrate ; perennial. This is not an uncommon species 



