CLASS II. ORDER I.] VEKONICA. 11 



cemeb were axillary or tenuinal, as seen in Fig. 16. The longer peti- 

 oles, the nearly entire leaves, and the whole plant smaller, have led 

 thera to indulge in the belief of its being a distinct species ; but the 

 removal of the plants to better soil and a more favourable situation for 

 their gi'owth, has proved them to be only varieties, by assuming the 

 more ordinary appearance of the plant ; and, it will be observed, the 

 small leaves between the racemes embrace the terminal bud which 

 would have elongated and continued the stem. 



This plant was formerly recommended medicinally, in the form of 

 tea, as a pectoral against coughs and asthmatic affections. It entered 

 into the materia of pharmacopajias under the names of Veronica mas ; 

 Tkea ffcrmanica ; Betonica paitli ; and Chamadrys spuria. We have 

 known cases of individuals labouring under affections of the chest, for 

 the cure of which the greatest faith has been placed in the supposed 

 virtues of this plant ; the parties taking a strong infusion of it for a 

 length of time, without experiencing the least benefit, or, happily, 

 much injury, from the drink. Its efficacy, if any, is so slight as to be 

 unworthy of attention, and is now justly forgotten. It is astringent 

 and bitter, and has been used extensively in Sweden and Germany as 

 a substitute for China tea ; but its bitter, disagreeable, sickly flavour, 

 readily distinguishes its infusion from that of the real tea. 



11. V. chaime'dri/s, {Fig. 17.) Germander Speedwell— Wild German- 

 der. Racemes lateral, elongated, many flowered, leaves ovate, 

 rugose, deeply serrated, sessile or on short footstalks, stem with 

 two opposite longitudinal hairy lines, capsule inversely heart- 

 shaped, shorter than the calyx. 

 English Botany, t. G23.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 23.— Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 189. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 7. 



Sum undivided, round, rooting at the base, ascending, marked with 

 a hairy line on each side, changing their position at each pair of leaves. 

 Leaves deeply and unequally serrated, opposite, sessile or on short foot- 

 stalks, with numerous veins sunk on the upper side, prominent and 

 hairy beneath. Racemes lateral, sometimes opposite, long, slender, 

 many flowered, and gracefully curved in the upper part. Flotcer-stalks 

 also slender, more or less bent, about half an inch long, with lanceolate 

 bractea. Cahjx segments, lanceolate, acute, and hairy, shorter and much 

 smaller than the corolla, the large petals of which are of a beautifu . 

 blue, streaked with darker veins, sometimes purple, lilac, or whitish, 

 downy at the base. Whole plant more or less hairy, and of a darker 

 green than V. montana, which it most resembles, though essentially 

 distinct, especially in the shorter leaf-stalks, the racemes longer and 

 more abundantly flowered, the corolla larger, and the capsule much 

 smaller. 

 Ilabital. — In groves, pastures, and hedges common. 

 Perennial ; flowering May and June. 



