SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 301 



sessile, forming terminal, leafy racemes, blue or nearly white. 

 Cultivated and waste places. Fl. May, June. 



** Flowers in axillary racemes. 



V. officinalis : stems much branched, creeping and rooting, 

 \-\ foot long ; leaves obovate or oblong, toothed, hairy ; 

 spikes or racemes hairy, axillary, sometimes proceeding from 

 the upper axils, the flowers nearly sessile, small, pale blue. 

 Dry banks and heaths. Fl. June to August. 



V. Anagallis : stems erect, branching, ^-2 feet high, gla- 

 brous ; leaves lanceolate, sessile or clasping, toothed ; ra- 

 cemes numerous, axillary, opposite, i. e. in the axils of both 

 leaves of each pair, the flowers small, pedicellate, pale blue. 

 Wet ditches, and by streams and ponds. Fl. July. 



V. Beccabunga : stems procumbent or floating at their 

 base, rooting, the flowering branches ascending, glabrous ; 

 leaves stalked, oblong, obtuse, slightly toothed ; flowers small, 

 blue, in opposite axillary racemes. Brooklime. Wet ditches, 

 and by streams and ponds. Fl. June, July. 



V. scutellata : stems slender, ascending or spreading, about 

 6 inches high, glabrous, rarely downy ; leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late ; flowers few, in slender racemes, alternately from one 

 axil only of each pair of leaves, small, pale pinkish-blue. 

 Marshes, ditches, and wet places. Fl. July, August. 



V. Chamsedrys : stems weak, ascending, about a foot long, 

 with two opposite lines of hairs; leaves stalked, ovate- cordate, 

 crenate, hairy; racemes longer than the leaves, with large 

 bright blue flowers, on longish pedicels ; capsule flat, very 

 broad at the top. Woods, banks, etc. Fh May, June. 



V. montana resembles this, but is more diffuse, with looser 

 and more slender racemes of flowers, the stem hairy all round, 

 and the capsule broadest in the middle. 



