III. VERONICA. 75 



climate, and becomes mean and weak, as well as dwarfed ; 

 and one which is braced and brightened by the cold, 

 though diminished, as if under the charge and charm of 

 an affectionate fairy, and becomes a joyfully patriotic in- 

 heritor of wilder scenes and skies. Medicinal, to soul 

 and body alike, this gracious and domestic flower; though 

 astringent and bitter in the juice. It is the Welsh deeply 

 honoured ' Fluellen.' See final note on the myth of 

 Veronica, see 18. 



9. Thymifolia. Thyme-leaved, G. 6. Of course the 

 longest possible word serpyllifolia is u&ed in S. 978. 

 It is a high mountain plant, growing on the top of Crete 

 as the snow retires ; and the Veronica minor of Gerarde ; 

 "the roote is small and threddie, taking hold of the up- 

 per surface of the earth, where it spreadeth." So also 

 it is drawn as a creeper in F. 492, where the flower ap- 

 pears to be oppressed and concealed by the leafage. 



10. Minuta, called 'hirsuta' in S. 985: an ugly char- 

 acteristic to name the lovely little thing by. The dis- 

 tinct blue lines in the petals might perhaps justify i picta' 

 or ' lineata,' rather than an epithet of size ; but I suppose 

 it is Gerarde's Minima, and so leave it, more safely named 

 as < minute ' than ' least.' For I think the next variety 

 may dispute the leastness. 



11. Verna. D. 252. Mountains, in dry places in 

 earlv spring. Upright, and confused in the leafage, 

 which is sharp-pointed and close set, much hiding the 

 blossom, but of extreme elegance, fit for a sacred fore- 



