340 SCROPHULAEIACE.E. [Fewnica. 



W. Jl/f(i. — Cornfields, &c., at Freshwater. Walls of Carisbrooke castle, Dr. 

 Bell -Sailer!!! 



This species resembles at first sight V. agrestis or V. polita, differing however 

 in the following particulars. Herb bright green. Stems hairy, a little ascend- 

 ing, or in the smaller plants quite upright. Leaves hairy, the lower ones cordato- 

 ovate, with a few coarse tooth-like seriatures, very shortly petiolate, those higher 

 up quite sessile, gradually becoming narrower, more pointed and entire ; the 

 uppermost bractescent, quite entire, or with a single tooth at the base. Flowers 

 solitary, very small, bright blue, nearly sessile amongst the upper leaves. Sepals 

 lanceolate, very unequal, the 2 lower ones largest, all widely spreading in fruit. 

 Capsules pale brown, shorter than the calyx, compressed, inversely heart-shaped, 

 deeply 2-lobed, ciliated on the margin, otherwise quite glabrous. Seeds several 

 in each cell, yellowish and pelhicid, ovate, compressed and slightly wrinkled. 



§5§§ Flowers axillary, solitary. Stems procumbent. 



9. V. hederafolia, L. Ivy-leaved Speedivell. " Ijeaves all 

 petiolate cordate with 5 — 7 large teeth or lobes, segments of the 

 calyx cordate ciliate, capsule of 2 turgid lobes, seeds 2 — J, stem 

 procumbent."— Br. Fl. p. 291. E. B. t. 784. 



^n waste and cultivated ground, fields, gardens, and on hedgebanks; most 

 abundantly. Fl. March — July. ©. 



Root annual, slender, with a few pale thready fibres. Steins much branched 

 from the very base, the branches prostrate or a little ascending at their extremi- 

 ties, round, leafy, brittle, with a tough central medullary fibre, from a span to a 

 foot or 18 inches in length, slightly tinged with purple near the base, clothed 

 pretty copiously with long, white, soft spreading hairs, disposed, as Dr. Darling- . 

 ton remarks, in lines usually 3 in number, but irregular and unequal in their 

 length and direction, the intermediate spaces partially beset with the same 

 pubescence. Leaves numerous, pale dull green, somewhat fleshy, hispid with 

 short, scattered, erect, simple hairs, a few of the lowermost usually opposite, the 

 rest alternate, about half an inch in length exclusive of the mostly shorter flattish 

 petioles, roundish or roundish-ovate in circumscription, cordate at the base, often 

 rather broader than long, the lowei-most and earliest frequently nearly or quite 

 entire and heart-shaped, with a single, depressed, very straight median nerve ; the 

 rest 3 — 5 lobed, the lobes obtuse, entire at the margins, the basal pair smallest, 

 sometimes bifid and often obsolete, the central lobe much the largest, very broad 

 and blunt, each leaf with 3 or 5 strong depressed nerves on the upper surlace, of 

 which the lateral ones are directed to the sinuses, the middle nerve running 

 straight to the apex of the central lobe. Flowers axillary, solitary, small, on 

 peduncles downy like the stem, considerably lengthened and spreading or 

 recurved in fruit. Calyx much enlarged after flowering; sepals ovato-cordate, 

 subequal, entire, acute, obscurely 3 — 5 nerved, conjoined at their reflexed bases, 

 the margins fringed with long white hairs, otherwise glabrous. Corolla shorter 

 than the calyx, pale blue or purplish (sometimes nearly white), with purple 

 streaks, the throat villous. Anthers bluish. Style thick, angular, not tapering ; 

 stigmxi glanduloso-pilose, flat. Capsule didymous, subgloboso-quadrangular and 

 almost 4-lohed, depressed at top and crowned with the style, quite glabrous, 

 rather shorter than the calyx. Seeds 1 or 2 (mostly 2) in each cell. 



The leai'es resemble less those of the Ivy than of the pretty Linaria Cymbalaria. 

 The flowers are widely expanded only in very fine dry weather. This is quite a 

 spring plant, and seldom to be found after the month of June. 



Our lay- and tillage-lands are often covered with the Ivy -leaved Speedwell in 

 the spring and earlier summer months. 



10, V. agrestis, L. Gree^i Procumhent Speedivell. " Leaves 

 all petiolate cordate-ovate inciso-serrate about as long as the 

 flov?er- stalks, segments of the calyx oblong obtuse, stem procum- 



