8 SCROPHULARINEiE 



stalked, heart-shaped and egg-shaped, cut, deeply serrated ; sepals oblong, 

 blunt ; stamens inserted at the very base of the corolla ; capsule of 2 swollen 

 keeled lobes ; cells 6 — 10-seeded, sometimes hairy all over, at others fringed 

 on the keel ; annual. This is a very abundant plant in waste places and 

 cultivated fields in March, April, and May. In one of those premature 

 seasons to which Shakspere refers — 



" Short summers lightly have a forward spring," 



we have found this flower in the first week of February, its little pale blue 

 petals gleaming among its leaves, and have thought how well it deserved its 

 old name of Winter-weed. It flowers throughout the summer, and the 

 lower part of the corolla is usually white, but a form of this plant occurs 

 in which the petals are wholly bright blue, and the egg-shaped sepals acute, 

 and this is the V. polita of some writers. The prostrate stems are three or 

 four inches long, slightly hairy. Bishop Mant thus describes the plant : — 



' ' The pastured mead or stubble field, Distinct it shows ; its pendent head 



Or garden lightly scann'd, may yield Pluck, but be cautious lest you shed 



The first of all its numerous kind, The petals of the tender fiower, 



Procumbent Speedwell. See inclined And shorten thus the little hour 



On arching stalk of bright blue dye, At most allotted it to grace 



And with a round and pearl-like eye, With transient bloom its native place. " 



Everyone familiar with this plant will acknowledge the accuracy of this 

 description, and must have marked the peculiarly fugacious nature of its 

 petals, which are often shattered while the plant is being gathered. 



14. Buxbaum's Speedwell {V. hiixbaumii). — Leaves egg-shaped and 

 heart-shaped, stalked and deeply serrate, shorter than the flower-stalks; 

 segments of the calyx lanceolate and acute ; stem procumbent ; capsule 

 inversely heart-shaped, triangular, of 2 swollen sharply -keeled lobes, which 

 are flattened upwards; cells 8 — 12-seeded; annual. This plant is much 

 taller and stouter than the preceding, more hairy, and has far handsomer 

 flowers. These blossoms, which expand from May to September, are as 

 large and as brightly tinted as those of the Germander Speedwell. Its stem 

 is long and trailing, and it is found in fields and cultivated places. It 

 appears to have been introduced with clover-seed about the year 182.5, and 

 from that time to have rapidly spread wherever man by tillage has prepared 

 a suitable soil for it. It is now thoroughly established and plentiful through- 

 out the country. 



***** Flowers in spikes or racemes ; flowefi'-stalks erect or nearly so. 



15. Wall Speedwell {V. arvcnsis). — Leaves heart-shaped and egg- 

 shaped, with rounded notches at the margin, lower leaves stalked, upper 

 ones lanceolate and entire, resembling bracts, longer than the flower ; raceme 

 somewhat spiked, many -flowered, lax ; capsule inversely heart-shaped, flat- 

 tened, fringed on the keel with slender hairs ; annual. This is a common 

 plant of fields and old walls, having, from April to September, inconspicuous 

 light blue flowers with a white eye, almost hidden by the upper leaves, 

 which, diff"ering in form from the lower ones, may be regarded as bracts. 

 The whole plant is downy, and, growing in arid plains, is often covered with 

 dust. It occurs sometimes on gravelly or sandy heaths. 



