29 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



derived from two Greek words, polus and gala, meaning much 

 milk, from an ancient notion that cows eating this plant were 

 enabled to give a greatly increased supply of milk. 

 There are two other British species : 



I. Proliferous Milkwort (P. calcared], branches rooting, and 

 giving rise to new plants. Inner sepals broader and longer. 

 Dry soils in south and south-east of England. 



II. Bitter Milkwort (P. amara), much smaller in all respects 

 than the others ; the inner sepals are narrow, and the leaves 

 form a rosette. Very rare. Found only on the margins of 

 rills in Teasdale, and Wye Down, Kent. They all flower from 

 June to August. 



The Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamcp.drys) is the 

 representative of a genus which includes sixteen native species, 

 most of them with bright blue flowers of a particular form. 

 The corolla is tubular for half its length, the upper portion 

 divided into four spreading lobes, of which the upper and lower 

 are usually broader than the lateral pair. The two stamens 

 are attached within the corolla-tube just below the upper lobe, 

 and the anthers and stigma protrude beyond the mouth of the 

 tube. V. chamcedrys grows to greatest advantage in a great 

 mass on a sloping bank, where, in May and June, its intensely 

 bright blue flowers are very attractive. It is a most dis- 

 appointing flower to gather, for the corollas readily drop off, 

 and the beauty of the " button-hole " has rapidly passed. A 

 fine robust species, the Brooklime (V. beccabunga), grows in 

 bogs, ditches, and by the margins of streams, with stout stem 

 and thick leaves ; flowering from May to September. 



The Spurge Family (Euphorbia). 



The whole of the British species of Spurge have a singular 

 character, which enables the tyro in botanical matters to deter- 

 mine the genus at a glance, though he may not be so success- 



