84 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



in pairs is distinctly suggestive of the ground-ivy, a plant 

 we have figured in our series, but which is in no way related 

 to the true ivy (Hedera Helix) . Nevertheless, from the 

 resemblance of the Henbit to the one plant, it has somehow 

 received a name derived from the other, and is by some old 

 writers called the hederula. 



In the same way the ivy-leaved speedwell, the Veronica 

 hederifolia of the botanist, was by some of the old writers 

 called the lesser Henbit, thus making confusion worse 

 confounded. The real Henbit was called the hederula, a 

 name derived from the true ivy, because it was something 

 like a plant that had no connection with, or resemblance 

 to the ivy, while another plant, one of the speedwells, that 

 really has its foliage sufficiently like in form to the true 

 ivy to justify the botanical name, hederifolia, is called the 

 lesser Henbit, though it has no relationship whatever with 

 the real Henbit, and is not even in the same great natural 

 order. The whole difficulty arises from the earnest desire the 

 early writers seem to have felt to find resemblances, and 

 on the strength of these to ally together plants of the 

 most diverse natures. 



