DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 43 
b. (P. NYCTAGINIFLORA), Waite Perunta. Tube of corolla 
long and slender; flowers white ; leaves somewhat petioled. Cul- 
tivated from South America. This and the preceding species much 
mixed by hybridization. 
SCROPHULARIACEH, FIGWORT FAMILY. 
Mostly herbs with irregular flowers. Calyx free from the 
ovary and persistent. Corolla 2-lipped or otherwise more or 
less irregular. Stamens usually 2 long and 2 short or only 2 
in all, inserted on the corolla-tube, often 1 or 3 of them 
imperfectly developed. Pistil consisting of a 2-celled and 
usually many-ovuled ovary, with a single style and an entire 
or 2-lobed stigma. 
I. VERONICA, SPEEDWELL. 
Calyx usually 4-parted. Corolla rather wheel-shaped, with 
its limb generally somewhat irregularly 4-parted. Stamens 
2, inserted on the corolla-tube and projecting beyond it. 
Style 1; stigma 1. Capsule flattened, obtuse, notched or 
inversely heart-shaped at the summit, 2-celled, generally few- 
seeded. Mostly herbs with opposite or whorled leaves. 
a. (V. OFFICINALIS), ComMON SPEEDWELL, Gypsy WEED. 
Roughish downy, with the prostrate stems spreading and rooting ; 
leaves wedge-oblong or nearly so, obtuse, serrate, somewhat petioled ; 
racemes dense, of many pale bluish flowers; capsule rather large, 
inversely heart-shaped and somewhat triangular. Perennial. 
b. (V. SERPYLLIFOLIA), THYME-LEAVED SPEEDWELL. Smooth 
or nearly so; branching and creeping below, but with nearly simple 
ascending shoots, 2-4 in. high; leaves slightly crenate, the lowest 
ones petioled and roundish, those farther up ovate or oblong, the 
uppermost ones mere bracts; raceme loosely flowered ; corolla nearly 
white or pale blue. beautifully striped with darker lines ; capsule 
inversely heart-shaped, its width greater than its length. Perennial. 
c. (V. PEREGRINA), PURSLANE SPEEDWELL. A homely, rather 
fleshy, somewhat erect-branched weed, 4-9 in. high; the lowest leaves 
petioled, oblong, somewhat toothed, those above them sessile, the 
uppermost ones broadly linear and entire; flowers solitary, incon- 
spicuous, whitish, barely pediceled, appearing to spring from the 
axils of the small floral leaves; corolla shorter than the calyx ; 
capsule roundish, barely notched, many-seeded. Annual. 
