104 Introduction to Botany. 



n. VERONICA. Speedwell. 



(Possibly named for St. Veronica.) 



Chiefly herbs, with opposite or sometimes alternate or verticillate 

 leaves. Flowers usually small, inflorescence racemose, spicate, or soli- 

 tary. Calyx mostly 4-parted, sometimes 3- or 5-parted. Corolla rotate 

 or salver-form, generally with a 4-parted border, the upper lobe com- 

 monly broader than the others. Stamens 2, exserted and divergent, 

 inserted on each side of the upper lobe of the corolla. CajDsule flattened, 

 notched or obtuse at the apex, 2-celled, few- to many-seeded. Style 

 and stigma simple. 



1. Veronica officinalis, L. (L., officina, workshop.) Common Speedwell. 

 Pubescent. Stems ascending or prostrate, rooting at the base, 3 to 10 inches long. 

 Leaves mostly obovate, serrate, short-petioled. Racemes spikelike and many- 

 flowered. Flowers pale blue, about J inch broad. Capsule much flattened and 

 broadly notched. Perennial. In dry fields and open woods. 



■A. Veronica serpyllifdlia, L. (L., serpyllum, wild thyme; folium, leaf.) 

 Thyme-leaved Speedwell. Perennial. Glabrous or softly pubescent. De- 

 cumbent at the base, much branched, the branches ascending or erect, 2 to 10 

 inches high. Leaves mostly petioled, oblong, oval or ovate, crenate, those of the 

 inflorescence lanceolate. Inflorescence a terminal, spicate, loose-flowered raceme. 

 Corolla pale blue with dark stripes, or white, about \ inch broad. Capsule broader 

 than long, obcordate, or emarginate. Roadsides, fields, and thickets. 



3. Veronica peregrina, L. (L., feregrinus, foreign, or exotic.) PURSLANE 

 Speedwell or Neckweed. Nearly smooth or glandular-puberulent annual. 

 Erect or ascending, 3 to 12 inches high. Lowest leaves oval-oblong, short-petioled, 

 or sessile, toothed, thickish. Upper leaves mostly oblong or spatulate, longer than 

 the solitary flowers in their axils. Corolla minute, whitish. Capsule obcordate, 

 nearly orbicular, shorter than the calyx. In moist waste and cultivated grounds. 



4. Veronica arv^nsis, L. (L., arvum, a field.) Corn or Wall Speedwell. 

 Slender, pubescent annual, simple or diffusely branched, 3 to 10 inches tall. Lowest 

 leaves petioled, ovate, and crenate. Upper leaves ovate to lanceolate, frequently 

 alternate and entire with a minute blue or nearly white flower on a short pedicel in 

 the axil of each. Capsule minute, broadly obovate or obcordate. In cultivated 

 grounds, fields, woods, or waste places. 



m. CASTILLEIA. Painted Cup. 

 (Named for Castillej^, Spanish botanist.) 



Herbs. Parasitic on the roots of other plants. Leaves alternate, 

 entire or cut-lobed. Flowers red, purple, white, or yellow, in leafy 

 bracted spikes, the bracts being often expanded and more brightly col- 

 ored than the flowers. Calyx tubular, somewhat compressed laterally, 



