V E R 



V E R 



mer they may be taken up with balls to their 

 roots, and be planted in a warm sheltered 

 border, being protected and watered till re- 

 rooted, little care being afterwards necessary : 

 these produce seeds often in the autumn ; but 

 in the stove they may frequently be preserved 

 over the winter. 



They produce variety in stove- and green- 

 house collections, and sometimes in the borders 

 during the summer season. 



VERONICA, a genus comprising plants of 

 the herbaceous perennial and shrubby kinds. 



It 'belongs to the class and order Diandria 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Pers,onatre. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a four- 

 parted perjanth, permanent: segments lanceolate, 

 •acute : the corolla one-petalled, wheels-shaped : 

 tube length almost of the calyx: border four- 

 parted, flat, with ovate segments ; the lowest 

 narrower, the segment opposite to this wider : 

 the stamina have two filaments, narrower at bot- 

 tom, ascending: anthers oblong : the pistillum 

 is a compressed germ: style filiform, length of 

 the stamens, declined : stigma simple : the pe- 

 ricarpium is an obcordate capsule, compressed 

 it the top, two-celled, four-valved : the seeds 

 numerous, roundish. 



The species cultivated are: 1. V. Silirica, 

 Siberian Speedwell ; 2. V. Firginica, Virginian 

 Speedwell; 3. V. spuria, Bastard Speedwell; 

 4. V. mar'itima, Sea Speedwell ; 5. V. longifolia, 

 Long-leaved Speedwell ; 6. V. hylrida, Welsh 

 Speedwell ; 7. V. i/icisa, Cut-leaved Speedwell ; 

 8. V. decussata, Cross-leaved Speedwell. 



The first has a perennial root : the stem four 

 feet high, rough-haired : the leaves six or seven 

 in whorls, twice as wide as those of the second 

 sort : peduncles terminating solitary ; the lateral 

 ones with two opposite oval leaflets : the calyxes 

 five-eleft: the corollets blue, with an oblong 

 tube, and small acute border : the stamens and 

 pistil twice as long as the corolla. It is a native 

 of Siberia, flowering in July and August. 



The second species has the stems erect, four 

 or five feet high, having four or five lanceolate 

 leaves in whorls at each joint, serrate, and end- 

 ing in acute points : the stems are terminated 

 by long slender spikes of white flowers, which 

 appear late in July. It is a native of Virginia 

 and Japan. 



It varies with blush-coloured flowers. 



The third has a perennial root, sending out 

 many offsets : the lower leaves two inches long, 

 and half an inch broad, pale green and hairy: 

 the stems a foot high, with very narrow lanceo- 

 late leaves, placed opposite, and having a few 

 ••light serralures on their edges : the stems ter- 

 minated by long spikes of blue flowers, which 



appear in June and July. It is a native of Siberia- 

 and Germany. 



There is a variety of this also with a flesh-co- 

 loured flower. 



The fourth species has the stalk9 not so long 

 as those of the preceding : the leaves by fours 

 and threes round the stalk, on longer footstalks; 

 they are broader at the base, run out into long 

 acute points, are unequally serrate, and of a 

 bright green colour : the flowers are of a bright 

 blue, and appear in July. It is a native of the 

 sea-coasts of Europe. 



There are varieties with leaves opposite, in 

 threes or in fours, with blue, blueish, flesh-co- 

 loured, and with white flowers. 



The fifth has the lower leaves two inches 

 long, and an inch broad in the middle, draw- 

 ing to a point at each end, serrate, and of 

 a lucid green colour : the stems a foot and 

 a half high, with leaves of the same shape 

 but smaller, and placed opposite ; they are ter- 

 minated by long spikes of blue flowers^ which 

 appear in June. It is a native of Germany, 

 Austria, and Russia. 



The sixth species has the stems very white 

 and woollv, about a foot high : the leaves ob- 

 long, hoary, two inches and a half long, three 

 quarters of an inch broad, sessile : the flowers, 

 deep blue in terminating spikes, and from the 

 upper axils : they appear in June and July. It 

 is a native of Russia, Ukrain Tartary, &c. 



There is a varietv with white flowers. 



The seventh has the spikes aggregate, the 

 flowers large, the leaves an inch long, lanceolate 

 wed^e-shaped at the base, with lanceolate seg- 

 ments. It is a native of Siberia, flowering in 

 July and August. 



The eighth species is a bushy shrub about two 

 feet high : stem upright, round, very much 

 branched : the branchlets alternate, spreading, 

 round or indistinctly quadrangular, closely leafed 

 on every side, having a pubescent line on each 

 side running down from the oppositions of the 

 leaves, which spread very much, are scarce an 

 inch long, acute, coriaceous, smooth and even, 

 jme-nerved, paler underneath, evergreen, border 

 cartilaginous, on very short concave smooth pe- 

 tioles, gibbous at the base on the outside : the 

 racemes single, short, few-flowered, towards the 

 end of the branches, not terminating, but just 

 below the top : the pedicels alternate, short, 

 quadrangular, one-flowered. The regular growth 

 of the leaves, decussated or crosswise, distin- 

 guishes this species immediately. 



Culture. — These plants may be raised by seed 

 and parting the roots. 



In the annual sorts the seeds should be sown 

 in the autumn or very early spring, in the bor- 

 ders or places where the plants are to grow, be- 



