FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE GREEN LANES. 231 



The leaves are nettle-shaped, and hy-and-by will 

 cover the hedge banks with their clusters. Many 

 people mistake this pretty plant for the Forget-me- 

 not, which is a species in nowise related to it. In 

 old herbals you will find many curative properties 

 ascribed to the speedwell, amongst others as a remedy 

 for gout and cancer. About the same time of year 

 when this species is in flower you may haply meet 

 with another, the Thyme-leaved Veronica (V. serpylli- 

 folia), with smaller and lighter blue blossoms, and 

 having narrow leaves not a great deal unlike those 

 of the plant whose name it has borrowed. 



Our hedge banks and lane sides are the habitat of 

 another genuinely English plant, the Self-heal 

 (Prunella vulgaris). Its scientific name is a corrup- 

 tion of Brunella, derived doubtless from its being 

 considered a certain cure for quinsy, the German 

 name of which complaint is " braune." In Cheshire 

 it goes by the name of " carpenter's grass," whilst 

 in Gloucestershire it is known as " carpenter's herb." 

 Both these names allude to the belief that if a 

 carpenter happened to cut himself, the applied leaves 

 would stanch the blood and heal the cut. The 

 same belief led to this plant being formerly called 

 " hooke-heal," and " sickle- wort," in allusion to its 

 curing the wounds caused by sickles and bill-hooka. 

 In Essex, it is favoured with the appellation of 

 " pick-pocket," but as that name is there given to 

 weeds in general, it is invidious to signal out the 

 present species. Its commoner and more general 



