NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 
and using them as a pot herb. A case of this kind occurred 
some years ago whereby several persons were poisoned. 
At that time there was no attempt made by the backwoods 
settlers to cultivate vegetables, and they made use of many 
of the wild herbs with very little knowledge of their sana- 
tive or injurious qualities. 
AMERICAN BRooKLIME—Veronica Americana (Schw.). 
(PLATE XVII.) 
‘* Flowers spring up and die ungathered.” 
— Bryant. 
In the language of flowers the blossoms of the Veronica, 
or Speedwell, are said to mean undying love or constancy, 
but the blossoms of the Speedwell are fugacious, falling 
quickly, and therefore, one would say, not a good emblem 
of the endurance of love or friendship. 
Sweet, simple flowers are the wild Veronicas, chiefly 
inhabiting damp overflowed ground, the borders of weedy 
ponds and brooks, whence the names of Brooklime and 
Marsh Speedwell, Water Speedwell, and the like. Some 
of the species are indeed found mostly growing on dry hills. 
and grassy banks, cheering the eye of the passing traveller 
with their slender spikes of azure flowers. This species is 
often known by the pretty name of Forget-me-not, though it 
is not the true “ Forget-me-not,” which is Myosotis palustris, 
also with the rest of its family called “ Scorpion-grass,” 
from the small buds, before expansion, having the petals 
twisted and forming a small coil at the tips of the branches. 
The American Brooklime is one of the prettiest of the native 
Veronicas, and may easily be recognized by its branching 
spikes of blue flowers and veiny partially heart-shaped 
leaves. It is but little that we have to say of our pretty 
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