30 FLOWERS AND FRUITS. 



add beauty to the day. Very fortunately in our world every plant 

 seems placed just where it will be most appreciated and do the 

 most service, and this pleasant and modest looking sojourner will 

 light up its quiet nooks, with an air of grace and liveliness that is 

 exceedingly pleasant, producing at such times an effect quite equal 

 to the rose or lily in the conservatory. In wet weather its blossoms 

 are very apt to fly off. 



The whole of the Veronica genus is thrown out of the pale of all 

 useful application. The one before us stood its ground the longest, but 

 was at last compelled to give way, as many others much better qual- 

 ified for the uses to which it was applied wanted its place. The 

 Materia Medica is already too large, beyond the grasp of any one 

 s practitioner, and ,it twill renders quits ^ s immclj service . to : the interests 

 of science to prove the worthlessness of its insufficient articles, asjt 

 would to add new discoveries. Its place is consequently just where 

 it is presented, among the list of American wild flowers. 



It is an exceedingly well marked flower, its three inner circles of 

 purple, red, and white, will not be easily forgotten by one who has 

 closely observed them, yet it is sometimes confounded with another 

 of the same genus, the V. Ghamedrys, and the distinction is the more 

 important to be observed as the latter has been proposed as a sub- 

 stitute of tea, and is often called The del 'Europe. This itself in turn 

 has been mistaken for the Myosotis palustris, the German forget- 

 nie-not, which we think it more than surpasses in beauty. Its 

 intense blue is absolutely radiant. It differs from the V. beccabunga 

 in being found on dry barren grounds and heath, its flower is much 

 larger, and it blossoms in June and July. 



As our friend the brooklime carries the tricolor, we will take it for 

 granted that he is a true friend of liberty, and give him the emblem 

 accordingly. 



