70 WILD rLOWEES OF SPEIKG. 



the leaves are gathered and dried by the villagers fof 

 the purpose of making herb tobacco, when it is mixed 

 with yarrow, rose-leaves, and some sweet herbs, and 

 is said to be useful in cases of asthma. In the corn- 

 fields, in the early spring, we shall find the Ivy -leaved 

 Speedwell (Veronica heclerifolia) . It is easily known 

 by its trailing stem and thick ivy-shaped leaves. Its 

 long shoots twine among the young corn, and when the 

 March sun shines genially, its small blue flowers are 

 easily distinguished, and its seed-vessel is formed of two 

 lobes. It, like Grey Field Speedwell (V. agrestis), 

 flowers throughout the summer. The latter has, how- 

 ever, a paler blossom, and is white in the centre of the 

 blossom. Its notched heart-shaped leaves and pro- 

 cumbent stems lie along the farrows of the tilled field 

 or creep over the sunny bank at the side. There is 

 one distinguishing feature of the Veronica tribe the 

 lower of the four petals is in all cases narrower than 

 the other three, and the colour in all the seventeen 

 varieties is blue of greater or less intensity. A larger 

 variety of speedwell has been noted on some lands, 

 and is known as Buxbaum's Speedwell (Veronica Bux- 

 lauiJii). It flowers much later, and is altogether a 

 larger and more handsome plant than its enrlior ra- 



