1 52 FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



drops of agony on His brow, wiped His face with a kerchief or napkin. 

 The sacred features remained impressed on the kerchief. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



234. Veronica he derce folia, L. Stem prostrate, leaves cordate, 5-7 

 lobed, petiolate, flowers pale blue, axillary, single, sepals ciliate, seeds 

 concave. 



Hemp Nettle (Galeopsis Tetrahit, L.) 



This plant is found in Late Glacial beds at Twickenham, Neolithic 

 and Roman beds deposits at Silchester. At Twickenham it was 

 associated with Reindeer, Bison, and Bos longifrons, but not extinct 

 animals, suggesting a transition period between Palaeolithic and Neo- 

 lithic. It is found to-day in the Arctic and Temperate Zones in Arctic 

 Europe, N. Asia, W. Asia, to N.W. India, and is introduced into 

 N. America. It is found in all parts of Great Britain, up to 1300 ft. 

 in Northumberland. Watson regarded it as native or a colonist. 



Hemp Nettle is found by the roadside, and in hedgerows, generally 

 in the shade, and is frequent on the borders of cornfields, where 

 perhaps it is most at home. But it is also to be found along other 

 hedgerows in fields. It occurs again in waste places, suggesting it is 

 largely a weed of cultivation. 



Tall-stemmed and erect, the plant is well distinguished if only by 

 its long, dense bristles. The stem joints are thickened above, 1 the 

 leaves are hairy, egg-shaped, acute, notched, shortly stalked, with 

 opposite branches. 



The flowers are in dense whorls and white or purple or yellow. 

 The calyx-teeth are long and come to a point, or are awl-shaped. The 

 tube of the corolla is slightly expanded. The nutlets are large, green, 

 and veined. 



Hemp Nettle is 2 ft. high. The flowers open in July and 

 August. It is an annual plant, propagated by seeds. 



The tube is from 11-17 mm - ^ on "- The upper part for 4-6 mm. is 

 expanded so that long-lipped bees can reach the honey. When fully 

 developed the pistil lengthens. The honey is contained in the swollen 

 base of the ovary, and lies in the smooth part of the tube which 

 obliquely ascends. The corolla is divided into an upper lip which is 

 arched over, covering the anthers, and a lower lip, trifid, for alighting, 

 which has honey-guides or yellow spots with a network of red lines. 

 There are two convex pouches in the sides of the lower lip which help 

 a bee to insert its head. The anthers like boxes with a closed lid 



1 These act as pulvini and are connected with sleep movements. 



