384 



SCROPHULARIACEAE (FIG WORT FAMILY) 



A frequent weed of upland pastures ; its stoloniferous habit 

 causes it to form patches or colonies, crowding out the larger and 

 more nutritious forage plants. 



Stems three to ten inches long, softly hairy, usually decumbent 

 at the base and rooting at the lower joints, the flowering stalks 

 erect. Leaves opposite, or the upper ones 

 alternate, obovate to elliptical, a half-inch to an 

 inch long, obtuse, softly hairy on both sides, 

 finely toothed, the lower ones narrowing to 

 short, margined petioles. Flowers in slender, 

 spike-like racemes densely crowded on very 

 short pedicels ; corolla four-parted, the lower 

 lobe less than half as large as the others, pale 

 blue or whitish, marked with dark blue or 

 violet lines, the whole flower only about a 

 quarter-inch broad. Stamens two, one on each 

 side of the upper lobe of the corolla, exserted ; 

 one slender style with stigma single ; calyx with 

 four narrow pointed lobes, longer than the pedi- 

 cel. Capsule heart-shaped, two-celled, about an 

 eighth of an inch broad, filled with fine, yellow, 

 flattened seeds. (Fig. 268.) 



This Speedwell is a medicinal herb, and its 

 leaves and flowering tops, collected when the 

 plant is in full bloom and carefully dried, are 

 FIG. 268. Com- worth three to five cents a pound. 



mon Speedwell (Ve- 

 ronica officinalis). 

 X*. 



Means of control 



In lawns and yards, hoe-cutting and reseed- 

 ing ; in fields, cultivation of the ground ; crowding out with 

 clover. 



THYME-LEAVED SPEEDWELL 

 Veronica serpyllifolia, L. 



Native and introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by 



rooting at the joints. 

 Time of bloom : April to October. 



