FIGWOET TRIBE 



"Therefore shall the little Speedwell 



Have a tribute rhyme from me : 

 Eyebright, Cat's-eye, or Germander, 



Fluellin, Paul's Betony, 

 Whatsoever name 'tis call'd by, 



Ornament of rural ways. 

 Once thought worthy — why not now so ? — 



Of all honour and all praise ; 

 In my rural walks I've often 



Mark'd it with admiring eyes, 

 With its notch'd leaves and blue blossoms. 



Brighter than Italian skies. 



" It hath relatives a many, 



One with ivy-shapen leaves. 

 That o'er gardens and o'er corn-fields 



Quite an emerald network weaves ; 

 One that groweth with the stonecrops 



From interstices of walls ; 

 One o'er banks and fields that runneth, 



On whose flower a grey shade falls : 

 In the early spring we see them, 



See them through long summer days, 

 And when stacks are piled, and autumn 



Sets the woodlands all ablaze. 



" Wherefore should I speak of others ? 



All are beautiful, all free 

 For the weakest hand to gather, 



For the dimmest eye to see ; 

 Springing in the shady woodlands, 



Growing in the sunny fields, 

 On the wild, and by the wayside, 



Every one a lesson yields, 

 Mute yet eloquent — all preachers 



Of God's goodness are the flowers ; 

 All are teachers, all bcseechers 



Of these stubborn hearts of ours. 



•' Unto me the little Speedwell, 



Insignificant and small. 

 Though I love them all, yet speaketh 



Even louder than they all. 

 If I see it in the morning, 



' Speed thee well !' it seems to say ; 

 At the noontide, ' Hast thou sped well ? 



Over now is half the day. ' 

 In the evening, ' Night is coming ! 



Hast thou made thy calling sure ? 

 Speed thee well, while light is with thee, 



Not for long will it endure !' " 



* * * * Flowers axillary, solitary ; flower-stalks recurved. 



12. Ivy-leaved Speedwell {V. hederifolia). — Leaves all stalked, heart- 

 shaped, with 5 — 7 large teeth or lobes ; segments of the calyx heart-shaped, 

 fringed with fine hairs ; capsule of 2 swollen lobes, each of which contains 

 from 2 to 4 large black seeds ; stem prostrate. No species of this genus is 

 more easily recognised than this, for its floral and stem-leaves are all exactly 

 similar, and all shaped like ivy leaves, of uniform bright green hue, and 

 somewhat thick and succulent. This Speedwell is one of the earliest bloom- 

 ing of the species, and is very connnon on hedgebanks and in cultivated fields, 

 growing up among the tender blades of corn as early as March, and its trail- 

 ing stems pretty thickly set with leaves. Its blossoms are not nearly so 

 large as those of the Uermander, but are brightly pale blue, and are welcome 

 to the lover of wild flowers, because coming while flowers are yet but thinly 

 scattered over dale and hill. Many can say with Robert Nichols : — 



" Beautiful children of the wood and field, 



That bloom by mountain streamlets 'mid the heather, ' 



Or into clusters 'neath the hazel gather, 

 Or where by hoary rocks ye make your bield. 



And sweetly flourish on through summer weather, 

 I love ye all ! 



" Beautiful things ye are, where'er ye grow : 



The wild red rose, the Speedwell's peeping eyes, 

 Our own blue-bell, the daisy that doth rise 

 AVherever suns do fall or winds do blow, 



And thousands more of blessed forms and dyes, 

 I love ye all !" 



The seeds both of this and the next species are very useful to those of our 

 singing birds which remain with us all the winter, or which in early spring 

 come back to their adopted summer homes. 



13. Green Procumbent Field Speedwell {V. agr^stis). — Leaves all 



