FIGWORT FAMILY 



SCROPHULARIACEAE 



CORN SPEEDWELL 



Veronica arvcnsis L. 



The Speedwells are mostly very small and insignificant plants 

 that are easily overlooked. They are common, however, in fields, 

 woods and waste places, and in cultivated soil. One or more kinds 



are apt to be along the edge of a lawn 

 almost any time during the summer, 

 and in all these places are known 

 from Nova Scotia to British Colum- 

 bia, south to Florida, Texas and Cali- 

 fornia. Several species are natives of 

 this continent but the Corn Speed- 

 well is an immigrant from Europe. 



It is an annual and the whole 

 plant is very hairy. The stem is 

 slender and finally becomes much 

 branched, the branches being 3-10 

 inches long and spreading. The low- 

 est leaves are petioled but the upper 

 are sessile. 



The flowers are produced from 

 March to September on very short 

 peduncles in the leaf axils. The calyx 

 is cleft into 4 narrow segments. The 

 corolla is blue, sometimes very pale 

 blue, and unequally 4-lobed. There 

 are only 2 stamens, i on either side 

 at the base of the upper corolla lobe. 

 The ovary is 2-celled and the' style 

 slender. The capsule is flattened and 

 2-lobed. 



The Purslane Speedwell or Neckweed, Veronica peregrina L., is 

 much less hairy or nearly smooth, 4-12 inches erect, and branched. 

 The upper leaves are narrow, entire and sessile, whereas the lower are 

 a little broader, either sessile or very short petioled and usually 

 slightly toothed. The flowers of this species are nearly white, almost 

 sessile and in blqom from May to October. The heart-shaped capsule 

 is a little shorter than the calyx and contains many flat seeds. This 

 plant is known in moist and cultivated soil throughout the United 

 States. 



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