218 PROSERPINA. 



himself to the imperative close of the more inclusive catalogue, 

 and be content to know the twelve, or sixteen, or twenty, ac- 

 knowledged families, thoroughly ; and only in their illustra- 

 tion to think of rarer forms. The object of ' Proserpina/ is 

 to make him happily cognizant of the common aspect of Greek 

 and English flowers ; under the term 'English,' comprehend* 

 ing the Saxon, Celtic, Norman, and Danish Floras. Of the 

 evergreen shrub alluded to in 11 above, the Veronica De- 

 cussata of the Pacific, which is "a bushy evergreen, with 

 beautifully set cross-leaves, and white blossoms scented like 

 olea fragraus," I should like him only to read with much sur- 

 prise, and some incredulity, in Pinkerton's or other entertain- 

 ing travellers' voyages. 



16. And of the families given, he is to note for the com- 

 mon simple characteristic, that they are quatrefoils referred to 

 a more or less elevated position on a central stem, and having, 

 in that relation, the lowermost petal diminished, contrary to 

 the almost universal habit of other flowers to develop in such 

 a position the lower petal chiefly, that it may have its full 

 share of light. You will find nothing but blunder and em- 

 barrassment result from any endeavour to enter into further 

 particulars, such as " the relation of the dissepiment with re- 

 spect to the valves of the capsule," etc., etc., since " in the 

 various species of Veronica almost every kind of dehiscence 

 may be observed " (C. under V. perfoliata, 1936, an Australian 

 species). Sibthorpe gives the entire definition of Veronica 

 with only one epithet added to mine, " Corolla quadrifida, 

 rotata, lacinia infima angustiore," but I do not know what 

 'rotata'here means, as there is no appearance of revolved 

 action in the petals, so far as I can see. 



17. Of the mythic or poetic significance of the veronica, 

 there is less to be said than of its natural beauty. I have not 

 been able to discover with what feeling, or at what time, its 

 sacred name was originally given ; and the legend of S. Veron- 

 ica herself is, in the substance of it, irrational, and therefore 

 incredible. The meaning of the term ' rational,' as applied to 

 a legend or miracle, is, that there has been an intelligible need 

 for the permission of the miracle at the time when it is re- 



