From Blue to Purple 



corolla lobe ; a knob-like stigma on solitary pistil. Stem: 

 From 3 to ID in. long, hairy, often prostrate, and rooting at 

 joints. Leaves: Opposite, oblong, obtuse, saw-edged, nar- 

 rowed at base. Fruit: Compressed heart-shaped capsule, 

 containing numerous flat seeds. 



Preferred Habitat — Dry fields, uplands, open woods. 



Flowering Season — May — August. 



Distribution — From Michigan and Tennessee eastward, also from 

 Ontario to Nova Scotia. Probably an immigrant from Europe 

 and Asia. 



An ancient tradition of the Roman Church relates that when 

 Jesus was on His way to Calvary, He passed the home of a certain 

 Jewish maiden, who, when she saw the drops of agony on His 

 brow, ran after Him along the road to wipe His face with her 

 kerchief. This linen, the monks declared, ever after bore the 

 inipress of the sacred features — vera iconica, the true likeness. 

 When the Church wished to canonize the pitying maiden, an 

 abbreviated form of the Latin words was given her, St. Veronica, 

 and her kerchief became one of the most precious relics at St. 

 Peter's, where it is said to be still preserved. Mediaeval flower 

 lovers, whose piety seems to have been eclipsed only by their 

 imaginations, named this little flower from a fancied resemblance 

 to the relic. Of course, special healing virtue was attributed to 

 the square of pictured linen, and since all could not go to Rome to 

 be cured by it, naturally the next step was to employ the common, 

 wayside plant that bore the saint's name. Mental healers will not 

 be surprised to learn that because of the strong popular belief in its 

 efiFicacy to cure all fleshly ills, it actually seemed to possess miracu- 

 lous powers. For scrofula it was said to be the infallible remedy, 

 and presently we find Linnseus grouping this flower, and all its 

 relatives under the family name of Scroftilariacece. " What's in a 

 name.?" Religion, theology, medicine, folk-lore, metaphysics, 

 what not? 



One of the most common wild flowers in England is this 

 same familiar little blossom of that lovely shade of blue known 

 by Chinese artists as "the sky after rain." "The prettiest of all 

 humble roadside flowers I saw," says Burroughs, in "A Glance 

 at British Wild Flowers." "It is prettier than the violet, and larger 

 and deeper colored them our houstonia. It is a small and delicate 

 edition of our hepatica, done in indigo blue, and wonted to the 

 grass in the fields and by the waysides. 



' The little speedwell's darling blue ' 



sings Tennyson. I saw it blooming with the daisy and butter- 

 cup upon the grave of Carlyle. The tender human and poetic 

 element of his stern, rocky nature was well expressed by it." 

 Only as it grows in masses is the speedwell conspicuous — a 



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