IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LAND 199 



SCROPHULARIACE.*: 



Common or Germander Speedwell ( Veronica Chamce- 

 drys L.) is a perennial which occurs on practically all 

 soils in grass land, but is usually little trouble. It has 

 hairy ascending stems, almost sessile ovate leaves, and 

 axillary racemes of bright blue roundish flowers | inch 

 across, which appear in May and June. 



Red Bartsia (Bartsia Odontites Huds.) and Yellow or 

 Viscid Bartsia (B. viscosa L.) sometimes occur abund- 

 antly in grass land. (They are described at p. 272.) 



In order to reduce these two species of Bartsia regu- 

 lar cutting to prevent seedirg must be practised, and 

 close grazing with sheep, combined with manuring, will 

 reduce them. B. Odontites is frequently 

 found in arable land, where it may 

 be successfully combated by thorough 

 cultivation. 



LABIATE 



Self-heal (Prunella vulgar is L.) is 

 sometimes very troublesome in pas- 

 tures and meadows. It is a some- 

 what hairy perennial, 6 to 12 inches 

 high, with a square stem, almost 

 oblong opposite leaves, the lower pairs 

 of which are stalked and the upper 

 sessile. The plant has a creeping 

 rootstock. The small, reddish-purple, 

 two-lipped flowers occur in whorls in 

 dense terminal heads (Fig. 56), and 

 open in July to September. Samples of 

 clover seeds often contain the almost egg-shaped seeds 

 of Self-heal as an impurity. The latter may therefore 



FlG - s 



