1 50 FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



from the snout-shaped flower; and Orontium, Dodonseus, is an old 

 mediaeval generic name for Snapdragon. It is called Calf-snout. 



This species is distinguished by the absence of a spur, in being- 

 annual, and having long pointed leaves in the calyx, whilst they are 

 short and obtuse in A. majns. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



230. Antirrhinum Orontium, L. Stem short, leaves narrow, linear 

 lanceolate, flowers purple, in a loose spike, sepals exceeding the corolla, 

 linear. 



Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Veronica hedersefolia, L.) 



Familiar to us from its almost universal occurrence on cultivated 

 ground this plant is found in the N. Temperate Zone in Europe, 

 N. Africa, W. Asia, and the Himalayas. It is unknown in seed- 

 bearing deposits. In Great Britain it is absent in Brecon, Radnor, 

 Cardigan, S. Lines, Isle of Man, Wigtown, Peebles, Selkirk, Stirling, 

 Main Argyll, Mull, N. Ebudes, \V. Ross, Caithness, and the Hebrides, 

 as far as the Shetlands. It is found in Ireland and the Channel 

 Islands. 



Ivy-leaved Speedwell is a typical cornfield weed, which comes 

 up year after year in great abundance in all cultivated fields, as well as 

 in gardens, on waste ground, and by the roadside here and there. It 

 is associated with Corn Buttercup, Poppies, Charlock, Heart's Ease, 

 Spurrey, Fool's Parsley, and many other cornfield weeds. 



The stem is trailing branched, round, soft, covered with soft hair, 



t> 



stringy internally. As the second Latin and English names imply the 

 leaves are ivy-shaped, i.e. 3-5 lobed, with wide angles. The leaf- 

 stalks equal the leaves, and the leaves are alternate, heart-shaped 

 at the base, fleshy, hairy. 



The flowers are pale blue, in the axils, borne on i -flowered flower- 

 stalks, which in fruit are turned back. The sepals (4) are heart-shaped, 

 acute, hairy on the margins. The corolla is bell-shaped, with oval 

 petals, the lower of which are less than the calyx, and hairy within. 

 The capsule consists of 2 swollen heart-shaped lobes, containing 

 2 seeds in each. 



As a trailer the plant is not more than 3 in. high. It flowers in 

 March up to June. The plant is annual, reproduced by seeds and 

 division of the root. 



The flowers are small and solitary, appearing in succession, the 

 male and female organs ripening at once. They are less conspicuous 

 than others in the same genus, being pale blue. Few insects visit 



