APRIL. 41 



" Paul's betony," and " fluellin :" but, iu former 

 times, all the species of speedwell were so highly 

 admired by the Dutch for their real, or supposed 

 virtues, that they called them " honour and 

 praise." The germander is of a most brilliant 

 blue ; so bright that it cannot foil to attract the 

 notice of those, who, in early spring, walk in the 

 country ; and its notched leaves, in shape not 

 unlike the leaves of a rose, but growing opposite 

 to each other on the stem, sufficiently mark the 

 species. We have in our fields, woods, and 

 hedges, thirteen species of them, but only three 

 other kinds are to be found now in bloom. 

 The ivy-leaved speedwell, (Ferowzca he deri folia,) 

 which has thick green leaves, shaped like the 

 ivy-leaf, is now a very common weed in gardens, 

 and runs profusely over some corn-fields among 

 the early blade ; its long slender stems entang- 

 ling in each other, or in those of the plants near 

 it. Its flower is very small, but most brightly 

 blue, and the seed-vessel which succeeds the 

 blossom, is formed of two lobes. Similar in 

 colour is the blossom of the speedwell now to 

 be found commonly on walls, (Feron/ca arvensis,) 

 but the whole a])pearancc of the plant is diffe- 

 rent as it grows upright ; and the grey field 

 speedwell {Veronica ac/restis) has a small 

 blossom not quite so bright as those of the 

 other species, while its notched leaves and stems 

 lie along the cultured field, or cover over the 

 waste bank. All these are sm.iller than the 

 germander speedwell, and they all bloom fronr 

 spring to autumn. 



B 3 



