SPEEDWELL. 



Veronica. 



(For Veronica, see Belvidere.) 



Many of the species are peculiarly beautiful. Flowers, 

 generally blue, some a pale pink. 



The V. Virginica, Virginian Speedwell, has clusters ob- 

 scurely whorled, with nearly sessile flowers. Tube of the 

 monopetalous five cleft corolla, twice as long as the five cleft 

 calyx. Leaves, four or five in a whorl, elliptic-lanceolate, 

 stalked; perennial. Spikes long, white or blush-coloured. 



There is a purple flowered variety, extremely beautiful, 

 to be found on the mountains of Virginia. 



SPIDER WORT. 

 Tradescanti. Virginica. 

 (See American Star Wort.) 



Called Tradescanti, after the two Tradescants, father 

 and son. 



The Spider Wort, T. Virginica, the original species 

 of this genus, was carried from Virginia to Europe by the 

 younger Tradescant, before the year 1629, as appears by 

 Parkinson's Paradisus. It is common from Pennsylvania to 

 Carolina, in shady woods. It has long fibrous roots. Stems 

 about eighteen inches high, round, leafy, scarcely branched. 

 Leaves lanceolate, smooth, sheathing, concave, tapering- 

 pointed, of a dark shining green. Flowers large, of a rich 

 violet blue, each lasting but a day, or rather a few hours in 

 the early part of the day, after which they roll up into a li- 

 quifying pulpy mass; but there being a great number in each 

 umbel, or tuft, there is a long succession. 



The Flower has a calyx of three leaves, permanent and 

 spreading. Corolla of three petals, ovate, flat, widely spread- 

 ing, their claws sometimes combined. The six golden an- 

 thers are brilliantly contrasted with the dark purple shaggy 

 filaments. It is a perennial plant, blooming throughout the 



STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 

 Ornithogalum. 



Ornithogalum, L. from the Gr. o^ n t> ojviSo;, a bird, and 

 y**., milk. But the application has proved a stumbling- 

 block to most etymologists. 



The Flora Historica, tells us, that this bulbous-rooted 

 flower received the reverential title of Star of Bethlehem, 

 from the formation of its corolla. 



It is an extensive genus, the essential character of which 

 is a corolla of six petals, erect, permanent, their upper part 

 spreading. No calyx. 



ST. JOHN'S WORT. 

 Hypericum. 



Hypericum. Linnaeus deduces the name from the Greek 

 IVe^, above, and EIXOV, a figure or image. Boerhave says, 

 "iTref-sixci/ (Gr.) quasi herba, cujus imago eminet." 



Native of America Europe China, etc. a copious and 

 handsome genus. The stems either shrubby or herbaceous, 

 usually angular. Roots perennial. Leaves simple, oppo- 

 site, sessile, entire. Herbage generally smooth, with glandu- 

 lar pellucid dots, and an aromatic scent. Flowers terminal, 



cymose, yellow and brilliant. Calyx often fringed. Gene- 

 rally five petals, oblong-ovate, obtuse, spreading. 



STRAWBERRY TREE. 



Arbutus. 



Arbutus, a Latin name given to a kind of wild Straw- 

 berry or Cherry tree, bearing fruit so sour, that Pliny calls 

 them unedones, because one of them is enough at a time. 



[See Ainsworth. 



Strawberry, E. from straw and berry; perhaps from 

 the practice of placing straw under the berries, or fruit, whilst 

 ripening, to keep them clear of the soil. 



Home Took considers strawberry, as straw'd-berry, 

 from straw, or strew, from the manner in which the plants are 

 set in beds, not cast in heaps, but, as it were, strewed here 

 and there, at manifest distances. 



Several species of the Arbutus are natives of America, 

 abundant in our swamps. 



The berries of the A. Thymifolia, or Thyme-leafed 

 Arbutus, are brought to the Philadelphia market late in Au- 

 tumn, and used for tarts. Considerable quantities of them are 

 exported to Europe and the West Indies they are much used 

 in London, though thought to be inferior to the cranberry of 

 British growth. 



The Ess. Char, a Calyx five-parted. Corolla, ovate, di- 

 aphanous at the base. 



SUMACH. 

 Rhus. 



RJms of doubtful origin. De Theis deduces it from 

 the Celtic rhudd or rub, red. The fruit of some of the spe- 

 cies justifies this derivation, those particularly most common 

 in the United States, as the Rhus glabrum, smooth Sumach. 

 Neglected corn-fields are soon overrun with this tree, whose 

 roots subsequently render ploughing very difficult. Its leaves 

 consist of from eight to twelve pair of longish taper-pointed 

 leaflets, smooth and naked on both sides. Fruit, a globular 

 crimson, berry, slightly hisped, the size of an Elder berry. 

 And the Rhus viridiflorum, green-flowered Sumach, growing 

 on the edges of woods, in dry sunny situations in Pennsylva- 

 nia and Virginia. The Jlowers are of a yellowish-green. 

 Leaves numerously pinnate, ovate-lanceolate, serrated, glau- 

 cous, and somewhat downy beneath, though not always so. 



According to Medical books, the Rhus copallinum, Len- 

 tiscus-leafed Sumach, (called by Dr. Ewell common sti- 

 mach,) berries red, and very acid, is a valuable plant. An 

 infusion of the berries, sweetened with honey, forms an excel- 

 lent gargle for sore throats, or to cleanse the mouth in putrid 

 fevers. The bark of the root is considered one of the best 

 antiseptics produced by vegetation, and forms an impor- 

 tant ingredient in decoctions for hectic, and scrofulous dis- 

 eases. 



Some of the species of this genus are celebrated for pro- 

 ducing valuable resins for varnish, as the R. Vernix, Var- 

 nish Sumach, found in low copses, from Canada to Carolina; 

 the whole tree very smooth. Leaflets about six pair with 

 one odd one; elliptical, entire, somewhat abrupt, pointed. 

 Flowers diaecious. Berries, the size of a pea, white and re- 

 markably polished, both in a fresh and dry state. 



