THE GEEMANDEE 

 SPEEDWELL. 



Trronica Chameedrys. Rat. Ord., Scrophulariaceee. 

 EW persons will regard entirely as a 

 stranger the beautiful plant selected for 

 our present illustration, for though per- 

 haps scarcely so freely met with as some 

 others, it is very generally distributed 

 throughout the country, and will hardly 

 be unknown to any persons who care to 

 observe such things if they have had the 

 good fortune to be in the country during 

 the months of spring. At this season the 

 woods and hedge-banks and roadsides are 

 brilliant with its beautiful blossoms, telling 

 at a little distance as large masses of deep 

 j, all detail being lost in the rich effect of 

 whole. The plant is at its best during May 

 June, though it may occasionally be met 

 h. before the middle of April, and stray 

 blossoms may be found all through the summer, 

 and even up to chill October. The aspect of the 

 plant as the summer goes on is, however, by no 

 means so elegant as in the earlier weeks of its 

 appearance, as the lower flowers of the racemes wither 

 away, and are succeeded by the capsules containing the 

 seeds, and, as the stems elongate, the general effect is 

 11 



