Veronica. — Nat. Ord. Scropuulariace.e. 



SPEEDWELL. 



AMERICAX BROOKLDIE. 



Veronica Americana. 



"Flowers spring up and die ungatliered.*' 



cMJ-^" the language of flowers the blossoms of the Veronica or 

 Speedwell are said to mean undying love, or constancy, 

 but the blossoms of the Speedwell are fugacious, falling 

 quickly, and therefore, one would say, not a good emblem ^ 

 of endurance. 



Sweet simple flowers are the wild Veronicas, chiefly inhabiting 

 damp overflowed ground, the borders of weedy ponds and brooks, 

 from whence the names of " Brooklime" and "Marsh Speedwell," 

 " Water Speedwell," and the like. Some of the species are indeed 

 found mostly growing on dry hUls and grassy banks, cheering the eye 

 of the passing traveUer by its slender spikes of azure flowers, and 

 this is often known by the pretty name of Forget-me-not, though it 

 is not the true " Forget-me-not," which is Myosotis palustris, also 

 caUed " Scorpiox-grass ;" the derivation of which last name we 

 should find it difficult to trace. 



