SCROPHULARIACEAE 



FIGWORT FAMILY 



CULVER'S ROOT 



I'eronica virginica L. 



The Culver's Root is closely related to the Speedwells, page 

 310, which one would never suspect from its growth habits and 

 general appearance. It grows in woods, meadows and other open 

 places from Massachusetts to Ontario and Mani- 

 toba, south to Alabama and Texas. It is a good 

 honey plant and formerly the root was extensively 

 used in medicine. 



This is a tall, stout, perennial herb, 2-y feet high, 

 with a stem that is smooth or very nearly so and 

 unbranched except in the inflorescence. Sometimes 

 the uppermost leaves are opposite but regularly 

 all are in whorls of 

 3-7. They are short 

 petioled, finely tooth- 

 ed, and may be smooth 

 on both sides or some- 

 what hairy below. 



Usually there are 

 several very dense 

 spikes of flowers 

 blooming during July 

 and August, the ter- 

 minal spike develop- 

 ing first. The calyx is 



4-parted and short. The white or sometimes bluish corolla is 

 tubular, nearly regular and 4-lobed at the end. The tube is much 

 longer than the lobes. Two long stamens are inserted low on the 

 corolla tube and extend well out of the flower. The style is about 

 as long as the stamens and the stigma is very small. The many- 

 seeded capsule is oblong-ovate, not notched, 2-3 times as long 

 as the calyx and opens by 4 teeth at the apex. 



The Thyme-leaved Speedwell, Veronica serpyllifolia L., is a low 

 perennial herb with dainty blue and dark-striped flowers, common 

 in fields and open woods. The long stems come from a fibrous root, 

 extend over the ground and turn upward a few inches from the tip. 

 The truits are obcordate capsules, a little shorter than the hairy 

 calyx and tipped with the long slender style. This plant is known 

 in Asia, South America and Kurope, and its recorded spread over this 

 continent is from Labrador to Alaska and south to Georgia and Cali- 

 fornia. It blooms from April to August. 



309 



