832 SCROPHULARIACE.E. (FIGWORT FAMILY.) 



16. VERONICA, L. Speedwell. 



Calyx 4- (rarely 3-5-) parted. Corolla wheel-shaped or salver-shaped, the 

 border 4-parted (rarely 5-parted) ; the lateral lobes or the lower one commonly 

 narrower than the others. Stamens 2, one each side of the upper lobe of the 

 corolla, exserted : anther-cells confluent at the apex. Style entire : stigma 

 single. Pod flattened, obtuse or notched at the apex, 2-celled, few -many- 

 seeded. — Chiefly herbs : leaves mostly opposite or whorled : flowers blue, flesh- 

 color, or white. (Derivation doubtful; perhaps the flower of St. Veronica.) 

 § 1 . Tall perennials, with mostly whorled leaves : racemes terminal, dense, spiked : 



bracts very small: tube of the corolla longer than its limb and much longer than 



the calyx; both sometimes b-clefl. (Leptandra, Nutt.) 



1. V. Virginica, L. (Culver's-root. Culver's Physic.) Smooth 

 or rather downy ; stem simple, straight (2° -6° high) ; leaves whorled in fours 

 to sevens, short-petioled, lanceolate, pointed, finely serrate ; spikes panicled ; 

 stamens much exserted. — Rich woods, Vermont to Wisconsin and southward : 

 often cultivated. July, Aug. — Corolla small/nearly white. Pod oblong-ovate, 

 not notched, opening by 4 teeth at the apex, many-seeded. 



§ 2. Perennials with opposite usually serrate leaves : flowers in axillary mostly oppo- 

 site racemes: corolla wheel-shaped (pale blue) : pod notched, many-seeded. 



2. V. Anagallis, L. (Water Speedwell.) Smooth, creeping and 

 rooting at the base, then erect; leaves sessile, most of them clasping by a heart- 

 shaped base, ovate-lanceolate, acute, serrate or entire (2' - 3' long) ; pedicels spread- 

 ing; pod slightly notched. — Brooks and ditches, especially northward: rare 

 eastward. June -Aug. — Corolla pale blue with purple stripes. (Eu.) 



3. V. Americana, Schweinitz. (American Brooklime.) Smooth, 

 decumbent at the base, then erect (8'- 15' high) ; leaves mostly petiolcd, ovate or 

 oblong, acutish, serrate, thickish, truncate or slightly heart-shaped at the base ; 

 the slender pedicels spreading; pod turgid. ( V. Beccabiinga, Amer. authors.) 

 — Brooks and ditches : common. June - Aug. 



§ 3. Perennials, with diffuse or ascending branches from a decumbent base : leaves 

 opposite : racemes axillary, from alternate or sometimes opposite axils : corolla 

 wheel-shaped: pod strongly flattened, several-seeded. 



4. V. SCUtellata, L. (Marsh Speedwell.) Smooth, slender and weak 

 (6'- 12' high) ; leaves sessile, linear, acute, remotely denticulate ; racemes 1 or 2, very 

 slender and zigzag ; flowers few and scattered, on elongated spreading or reflexed 

 pedicels ; pod very flat, much broader than long, notched at both ends or didy- 

 mous. — Bogs : common northward. June- Aug. (Eu.) 



5. V. officinalis, L. (Common Speedwell.) Pubescent; stem pros- 

 trate, rooting at the base ; leaves short-petioled, obovate-elliptical or irtdge-olilong, ob- 

 tuse, serrate; racemes densely many-flowered ; pedicels shorter than the calyx; j)od 

 obovate-triangular, broadly notched. — Dry hills and open woods. July. (Eu.) 

 § 4. Leaves opposite : flowers in a terminal raceme, the lower bracts resembling the 



stem-leaves: corolla wheel-shaped: pods flat, several-seeded. 

 * Perennials (mostly turning blackish in drying). 



6. V. alpina, L. Stem branched from the base, erect, simple (2' -6' 

 high) ; leaves elliptical, or the lowest rounded, entire or toothed; nearly sessile ; 



