VERONICA. 



poftd, about the ninth century, to have prefented her hand- 

 kerchief to our Saviour as he went to Calvary, to wipe his 

 face, when the pifture was miraculoufly imprefled upon it. 

 This woman, it was added, was the perfon troubled with the 

 flux of blood mentioned in the Gofpel ; and accordingly, 

 (he was foon joined with St. Fiacrius, and invoked together 

 with him againll the hemorrhoids. And hence the eftabhih- 

 ment of featts in iionour of St. Veronica, in the churclies 

 dedicated to St. Fiacrius. 



The miUiners have taken St. Veronica, or, as they call 

 her, St. Vcnljfe, or St. Fenecia, or Venifa, for their tutelary 

 faint. 



Veronica, in Botany, an old, but not claCTical, Latin 



name, whofe derivation has occupied and perplexed etymo- 



logifts as much as any upon record. Linnzeus thought 



it a corruption of Vetonlca, which, as profeflbr Martyn ob- 



ferves, confounds it with Betonicn. The fame learned writer 



gives us a Greek etymology, from Hoffmann, Cifumn, com- 



pofed of (ftpf, to bear, and v.xo, viSory, or di/linaion, as if 



we (hould fay in Engli(h, bearing the bell, on account of its 



beauty. But we doubt whether this be more than a pun. 



Its common etymology is of a mule kind, between Greek 



and Latin, from verus, or rather vera, true, and hkmj, a 



figure; and this, illiterate and barbarous as it is, has the 



fanAion of the fuperllitious legend of St. Veronica, whofe 



handkerchief is recorded to have received the impreffion of 



our Saviour's face, as he ufed it, in bearing his crofs to the 



place of his crucifixion. But we find nothing analogous in any 



of the herbs which has borne this name, nor any charafter, 



true or falfe, ftamped upon them, except that of their own 



peculiar beauty. Ambrofinus fays the word is German, 



and originated in the druggifts' (hops of that country, 



though he favours the idea of its being corrupted from Ve- 



tontca, our Betonica, or Betony. The chief objeft of this 



controverfy is to learn the true pronunciation of the name in 



queftion. If there be any truth in its Greek origin, the i 



muft be long ; but if otherwife, the analogy of Betonica 



may juftify the ufual praftice, of throwing the accent on 



the 0.— Linn. Gen. 12. Schreb. 15. Willd. Sip. PI. v. i. 



54. Vahl Enum. V. I. 55. Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. Sm. 



Fl. Brit. 15. Prodr. Fl. Grsec. Sibth. v. I. 5. Ait. Hort. 



Kew. V. I. 26. Brown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. I. 434. 



Purfli 10. Tourn. t. 60. JuiT. 99. Lamarck Did. by 



Poiret, v. 8. 50;. lUuftr. t. 13. Ga;rtn. t. 54. (Hebe; 



.Tuff. 105.) — Clafs and order, Diandria Monogynia. Nat. 



Ord. Perfonatx, Linn. Pedicuhires, Juff. Scrophularina, 



Brown. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, in four, 

 rarely five, deep, lanceolate, acute, fometimes obovate, 

 permanent fegments. Cor. of one petal, wheel-fhaped ; 

 tube almoft as long as the calyx ; limb flat, in four deep, 

 ovate, unequal fegments, the lowermoft narroweft, the op- 

 pofite one broadeft. Stam. Filaments two, inferted into the 

 tube of the corolla, fpreading, afccnding, tapering down- 

 wards ; anthers roundilh-oblong. Pifi. Germen fuperior, 

 comprefled ; ftyle thread-fhapfed, the length of the ftamens, 

 decHning ; iligma fimple, obtufe. Peric. Capfule inverfely 

 heart-fliaped, or fomcwhat elliptical, comprefled in the upper 

 part, of two cells, and two, more or lefs cloven, valves. 

 Seeds numerous, roundiftl. 



EH". Ch. Corolla four-cleft, wheel-fliaped ; its lower feg- 

 ment narroweft. Capfule fuperior, of two cells. 



Obf. Linnaeus remarks, that the tube of the corolla, 

 though in mod inftances very (hort, in fome fpiked fpecies 

 is of confiderable length. Mr. Brown particularly indi- 

 cates V. virginica znifiiirifa, as having a tube longer than 

 their five-cleft calyx, and hence belonging to P^ederota, 

 10 



if that genus, which moreover fcarcely differs from Wul- 

 FENIA, ought to be retained ; fee thofe articles. The calyx 

 is five-cleft in fome other fpecies, as multifida, and feveral 

 neighbouring ones, though others of the fame tribe have a 

 four-cleft caiyx. Such a difference therefore furnifhes 

 merely, in this cafe, a fpecific, not a generic, diflin£lion. 



Veronica is a very natural genus. Thefiem, ufually her- 

 baceous, is in fome few inftances flirubby. Leaves oppofite, 

 Cmple, moftly undivided, fometimes niaiiy-cleft ; in a few 

 cafes whorled ; thofe which accompany the flowers, whether 

 true braHeas, or the proper foliage of the plant, the flowers 

 being axillary, are nearly all alternate. YikVUzX fiowerjlalks 

 alternate, fingle-flowered. Calyx more or lefs unequal. 

 Corolla blue, rarely white or pale red, marked with fimple, 

 radiating lines, not reticulated. The fpecies are very nu- 

 merous, natives of the cold or temperate regions of Europe, 

 America, New Holland, and New Zeeland. Seventeen are 

 wild in Britain ; about twenty-five exotic ones are cultivated 

 in the gardens, being moftly perennial and hardy. We have 

 feveral to add to thofe of Linnaeus and Willdenow, and 

 even to the more copious catalogue of Vahl, amounting to 

 fixty-eight fpecies. The fourteenth edition of Linn. Syft. 

 Veg. contains but forty. They are commodioufly and na- 

 turally arranged by their inflorefcence. 



Se<ft. I . Clufiers terminal. Leaves more or lefs -whorled. 



1. V.fibirica. Siberian Speedwell. Linn. Sp. PI. 12. 

 WiUd. n. I. Vahl n. I. Ait. n. i. (V. fpicata altiflima, 

 foliis verticillatis ; Am. Ruth. 20. t. 4. ) — Clufter denfe, 

 with nearly feflile flowers. Tube of the corolla twice as 

 long as the five-cleft calyx. Leaves from five to nine in a 



whorl, lanceolate, feflile Native of Siberia ; fent to Kew 



by profellor Thunberg, in 1779. A hardy perennial, not rare 

 in curious gardens, flowering in July and Auguft, and rifing 

 to the height of five feet. The numeroufly whorled, finely 

 ferrated, fmooth leaves, and the long, denfe, upright ^ii«, 

 rather than cluflers, of innumerable pale blue, often white, 

 tubular^oiofrj-, with long, projefting, capillary ^amCTJ and 



Jlyle, well mark this fine fpecies. 



2. V. virginica. Virginian Speedwell. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 13. Willd. n. 2. Vahl n. 2. Ait. n. 2. Purfli n. i. 

 " Hoffm. in Comm. Goett. v. 15. 112. t. 1." (V. virginiana 

 procerior, foliis ternis, quaternis, &c.; Pluk. Phyt. t. 70. 

 f. 2.) — Clufters obfcurely whorled, with nearly feflile 

 flowers. Tube of the corolla twice as long as the five-cleft 

 calyx. Leaves four or five in a whorl, elliptic-lanceolate, 



ftalked On calcareous hills of North America, in funny 



expofures, flowering from July to September. Perennial. 

 Spikes long ; white or blufli-coloured. On the mountains 

 of Virginia, I obferved a very tall-growing variety, with 

 ■fwc^lefiowers, extremely beautiful. Purjh. This is ufually 

 of more humble ftature than the precedmg, and more fre- 

 quent in gardens. The leaves are fewer in a whorl, broader, 

 and, in our fpecimens, downy beneath. Clujlers, or /pikes, 

 feveral at the top of the ftem. 



3. V.foliofa. Leafy Hungarian Speedwell. Vahl n. 3. 

 " Waldft. et Kitaib. Hung. v. 2. 106. t. 102." — Leavei 

 three in a whorl, ovate, doubly ferrated. Calyx four-cleft. 

 Native of Hungary. Stem about two feet high, ereft, 

 fimple, hairy below. Leaves on fhort Italks, acute, veiny 

 beneath ; the lower ones downy, efpecially the rib and mar- 

 gin ; uppermoft rather lanceolate and fmooth. Lower 

 clujlers three together ; upper ones oppofite or alternate. 

 Braaeas linear. Corolla of a violet-blue. Capfule inverfely 

 heart-fhaped. Vahl. 



^. V . maritima. Sea-fide Speedwell. Linn. Sp. PI. 13. 

 Fl. Lapp. ed. 2. 5. Vahl n. 4. Willd. n. 4. Fl. Dan. 

 t. 374? (V. mas furreiEla elatior j Barrel. Ic. t. 891. V. 



fpuria ; 



