SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 301 



sessile^ forming terminal, leafy racemes, blue or nearly white. 

 — Cultivated and waste places. Fl. May, June. 



** Flowers in axillary racemes. 



V. officinalis : stems much branched, creeping and rooting, 

 \-\ foot long ; leaves obovate or oblong, toothed, hairy ; 

 spikes or racemes hairy, axillary, sometimes proceeding from 

 the upper axils, the flowers nearly sessile, small, pale blue. — 

 Dry banks and heaths. Fl. June to August. 



V. Anagallis : stems erect, branching, 4-2 feet high, gla- 

 brous ; leaves lanceolate, sessile or clasping, toothed ; ra- 

 cemes numerous, axillary, opposite, i. e. in the axils of both 

 leaves of each pair, the flowers small, pedicellate, pale blue. — 

 Wet ditches, and by streams and ponds. Fl. July. 



V. Beccabunga : stems procumbent or floating at their 

 base, rooting, the flowering branches ascending, glabrous ; 

 leaves stalked, oblong, obtuse, slightly toothed ; flowers small, 

 blue, in opposite axillary racemes. — Brooklime. — Wet ditches, 

 and by streams and ponds. Fl. June, July. 



V. scuteUata ; stems slender, ascending or spreading, about 

 6 inches high, glabrous, rarely downy ; leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late ; flowers few, in slender racemes, alternately from one 

 axil only of each pair of leaves, small, pale pinkish-blue. — 

 Marshes, ditches, and wet places. Fl. July, August. 



V. Chamsedrys : stems weak, ascending, about a foot long, 

 with two opposite lines of hairs; leaves stalked, ovate- cordate, 

 crenate, hairy; racemes longer than the leaves, with large 

 bright blue flowers, on longish pedicels ; capsule flat, very 

 broad at the top. — W'oods, banks, etc. Fl. May, June. 



V. montana resembles this, but is more diffuse, with looser 

 and more slender racemes of flowers, the stem hairy all round, 

 and the capsule broadest in the middle. 



