290 scROPiiri.AKiACEvE. (FIGWORT FAMILT.) 



herbs, with the leaves mostly opposite or whorled; the flower? blue, flesh-color, 

 or -white. "(Name of doubtful derivation ; perhaps the flower of .St. Veronica.) 



\l. Tall perennials, with mostly whorl td leaves: racemes terminal, de.ise, *;>.//: 

 bracts very small : tube of the corolla longer titan its limb and much loiwtr than tlu. 

 calyr. (Leptandra, NuU.) 



1. V. Virgiiiica, L. (CULVER'S-ROOT. CULVER'S PHYSIC.) Smooth 

 or rather downy ; stem simple, straight (2 -6 high) ; leaves whorled in foura 

 to sevens, short-petioled, lanceolate, pointed, finely serrate ; spikes pank-lc-d , 

 stamens much exsertcd. Rich woods, Vermont to Wisconsin, and southward 

 often cultivated. July. Corolla small, nearly white. Pod oblong-ovate, not 

 notched, opening by 4 teeth at the apex, many-seeded. 



$ 2. Perennials with opposite usually serrate leaves : floivers in axillary opposite ra- 

 cemes : corolla wheel-shaped (pale blue) : pod rounded, notched, rather many-seeded. 



2. V. AnagalliS, L. (WATER SPEEDWELL.) Smooth, creeping and 

 rooting at the base, then erect ; leaves sessile, most of them clasping by a heart-shaped 

 lase, ovate-lanceolate, acute, serrate or entire (2' - 3 long) ; pedicels spreading ; 

 pod slightly notched. Brooks and ditches, especially northward; not so com- 

 mon as the next. June- Aug. Corolla pale blue with purple stripes. (Eu.) 



3. V. Americana, Schweinitz. (AMERICAN BROOKLIME.) Smooth, 

 decumbent at the base, then erect (8' -15' high) ; leaves mostly petioled, ovate or 

 ol!ong t acutish, sen-ate, thickish, truncate or slightly heart-shaped at the base ; 

 the slender pedicels spreading ; pod turgid. ( V. Beccabimga, Amer. authors.) 



Brooks and ditches; common northward. June -Aug. Flowers as in the 

 last ; the leaves shorter and broader. 



$ 3. Perennials, with dijfuse or ascending branches from a decumbent base : leaves 

 opposite: racemes axillary, from alternate axils: corolla wheel-shaped : pod strongly 

 flattened, several-seeded. 



4. V. SClltcIIata, L. (MARSH SPEEDWELL.) Smooth, slender and 

 rreak (6' -12' high) ; leaves senile, linear, acute, remotely denticulate; racemes 1 or 

 2, very slender and zigzag ; flowers few and scattered, on elongated spreading or 

 rcflexed pedicels ; pod very flat, much broader than long, notched at both ends. 



Bogs; common northward. June -Aug. (Eu.) 



5. V. officinalis, L. (COMMON SPEEDWELL.) Pubescent; stem pros- 

 trate, rooting at the base ; leaves short-petioled, obovate-elliptical or wedge-oblong, ob- 

 tuse, serrate; racemes densely many-flowered; pedicels shorter than the calyx ; pod 

 obovatc-triangular, broadly notched. Dry hills and open woods; certainly in- 

 digenous in many places, especially in the Alleghanies. July. (Eu.) 



$4. Leaves opposite : flowers in a terminal raceme, the lower bracts resembling the 



stem-leaves : corolla wheel-shaped : pods flat, several-seeded. 



* Perennials (mostly turning blackish in drying). 



6. T. alpina, L. (ALPINE SPEEDWELL.) Stem branched from the 

 base, erect, simple (2' -6' high); leaves elliptical, or the lowest rounded, entire 

 or toothed, nearly sessile; raceme hairy, fttr-jloin-rat, crowded; pod obovate, 

 notched. Alpine summits of the White Mountains, New Hampshire. (Eu.) 



