Veronica. | LVI. SCROPHULARINEH. 337 
Chamedrys. Not unfrequent in most parts of England and Ireland, as 
well as in several Scotch counties. Fl. spring and summer. 
10. V. Chameedrys, Linn. (fig. 757). Germander Veronica.—Stems 
weak, creeping at the base, then ascending, often above a foot long, and 
remarkable by the hairs collected into two opposite lines down the stem 
from between each pair of leaves to the leaf next below, whilst the rest of 
the stem is glabrous or nearly so. Leaves shortly stalked, ovate-cordate, 
crenate, and hairy. Racemes axillary, one only from each pair of leaves, 
much longer than the leaves, with rather larger bright blue, or rarely 
smaller pinkish flowers, on rather long pedicels. Calyx 4-cleft. Capsule 
flat, very broad, and notched at the top, narrowing towards the base. - 
In woods, pastures, hedge-banks, roadsides, etc.; very common all over 
Europe and Russian Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle. 
Extends all over Britain. £7. spring and summer. 
11, V. hederzefolia, Linn. (fig. 758). Ivy Veronica. iy © annual, 
usually not so hairy as V. agrestis; the leaves of a thicker and smoother 
consistence, more distinctly stalked, broadly orbicular, with 5 or 7 coarse 
teeth or short lobes, the middle one broad and rounded; but the chief 
distinction is in the calyx, the divisions of which are broadly heart-shaped, 
not narrowed at the base. Corolla and capsule nearly those of V. agrestis, 
but there are usually but 1 or 2 seeds in each cell. | 
In waste and cultivated places, in Europe and Russian Asia, extending 
as a weed of cultivation over nearly the same area as V. agrestis, but 
generally less abundant. In Britain, not near so common as V. agrestis. 
Fl, all summer. | 
12, V. agrestis, Linn. (fig. 759). Procumbent Veronica.—A more or 
less hairy, much branched annual, with procumbent or prostrate stems, 
from 3 to 8 or 10 inches long. Leaves shortly stalked, ovate and toothed ; 
the lowest opposite, without flowers, but the greater number alternate, 
each with a pedicel in its axil, usually shorter than the leaf, bearing a 
single small, blue, or pinkish-white flower. Sepals ovate or oblong, usually 
- longer than the corolla. Capsule composed of 2 ovoid, erect lobes, each 
containing a small number of seeds, which are rough and convex on the 
outside, and hollowed out into a cup on the inner face. 
In waste and cultivated places; a very common weed all over Europe 
and Russian Asia, and introduced into North America and other countries. 
Very abundant in Britain. £7. the whole season. It varies in the shape of 
the sepals, and the size and colour of the corolla, and has been divided into 
three more or less marked varieties or ‘races:—V. agrestis, with oblong 
sepals, and white or pink flowers; V’. polita, Fries, with ovate sepals, and 
larger blue flowers; V. opaca, Fries, with spathulate sepals and fewer 
‘seeds; but none of the characters have sufficient constancy to justify their 
maintenance as distinct species. 
13. V. Buxbaumii, Ten. (fig. 760). Buxbaum’s Veronica.—This 
closely resembles V. agrestis, but is much larger in all its parts; the 
pedicels are longer, the flowers larger, of a bright blue, and the lobes of 
the capsule are broad and divaricate, so that the whole capsule when ripe 
is about 4 lines broad and only 2 long. 
A weed of cultivation, like the other annual species, but much more 
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