The BRITISH HERBAL. 
they are broadeft at the bafe, fmaller all the way 
to the point, and ftiarply ferrated. 
The flowers are fmall, and of a pale blue : tbey 
ftand in long fpikcs, riling from the bofoms of 
the leaves, and from the top of cheftalk; and 
many of them ufuaily open togedier. 
The fced-veflel is heart-falbioncd, and not 
large. 
It is a native of Germany, and fiowcrs in 
C. Bauhine calls it Chamadrys fpuria major al- 
isra five frutejcens. 
6. Jagged-leaved Speedwell. 
Veronica fcliis kciniatis. 
The root is long, fingle, and furniflied with a 
few fibres. 
The ftalk is firm, upright, a littie hairy, a 
foot high, and is divided into feveral branches. 
The leaves are numerous, and they are deeply 
and beautifully divided : their colour is a pale 
green, and they are a little hairy. 
The flowers are fmall and blue : they ftand on 
fhort footftalks in a kind of loofe fpikes. 
The feed-vefTel is heart-fafbioned and fmail ; 
and the feeds are minute and brown. 
It is a native of Italy and Germany, and 
flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Cham^edrys mijiriaca foliis 
tenuiffi7ne laciniatis. Morifon, Veronica temtiffme 
laciniata. 
7. Large-flowered little Speedwell. 
V eronica pumila flore majore, 
TIic root is compofed of many long and flen- 
der fibres. 
The ftaiks are numerous, round, weak, and 
four inches high. 
The leaves ftand ufiially in pairs, though fome- 
times they grow irregularly on the lower part of 
the ftaiks ; they arc fm:!)!, fhurt, without foot- 
ftajks, and fliarply fcrr:ued. 
The flowers grow at the tops of the ftaiks in 
little tufts, and are large, and of a beautiful 
blue. 
The feed-vefTels are heart fafhioned and fmall. 
It is a native of the mountainous parts of Italy. 
C. Bauhine calls it Cham/cdrys Alpina faxatilis. 
Others, Tetfcriim petramn pumiluvt. Others, 
Bonarota and Paderota, making it a diftinfc 
genus, but with little foundation in nature. 
It is particular, that the leaves feem to have 
ftood as the charaflcr of germander, with the 
old authors, rather than the flowers ; for in ger- 
mander thofe are of the labiated kind. 
8. Dwarf Speedwell. 
Chamadrys pumila. 
This is a very Angular, and very pretty fpecies. 
The root is long, divided, and creeping. 
The fhoots are numerous from various parts, 
and they confift each of a large clufter of leaves, 
fupported together on a fliort, firm ftalk. 
Thefe are fmall, oval, of a beautiful green, 
and finely ferrated at the edges. 
Among thefe rife the ftaiks, which are minute, 
flendcr, and have no leaves. On their tops 
ftand little clufters of flowers, four or five on 
each, which are large in proportion to the plant. 
The feed-vefTcls are fmall and heartfalhioned. 
It is common in the Pyrenean mo untains, and 
flowers in fpring. 
C. Bauhine calls It Vermica Alpina hellidis folio. 
GENUS XXVIIL 
BROOKLIME. 
BECABUNGA. 
THE flowers confift each of a fingle petal, tubular at the lower part, and divided into four feg- 
ments at the rim, and they ftand in long fpikes rifing from the bofoms of the leaves, not on 
the tops of the ftaiks : the feed-veflTel is heart-falhioned. The ftaiks are thick and flefhy, and the 
Jeave:^ ftand in pairs. 
LinnEEUs places this among his diandria monogynia; but he takes away its determinate and diftintft 
name, making it a fpecies of veronica. 
The flowers and feed-vefi'els indeed agree with thofe of veronica % But as it is ufeful to diftinguifli 
the plants from one another ; and nature has given fuflicient charailers in the reft of the herb, we 
ftiould therefore feek them there. 
The determinations of this author, who is at prefent with many the oracle of botany, are not to 
be confidered as fo abfolute, with refpeft to joining and feparating the genera of plants, as fome ima- 
gine. He frequently changes his own opinions ; and to know what he has determined at prefent his 
laft works muft be feen. Thus, in the laft fpecies but one of the fpeedwells', Micheli had feparated 
it from the reft, and taken away its name veronica^ making it a diftinfl genus, under that of 
bonarota. Linnasus, in his Genera Plantarumy followed this divifion, eftablifhed the plant as 2 fepa- 
rate genus; and, again changing the name, called it paderota : but in his laft publiflied work he has 
again changed his opinion, and, deftroying that new and idly founded genus, makes it a fpecies of vc' 
ronica. We give this as an inftance, that the genera eftablifhed by LinnEEUs are not fo irrevocable 
as fome of his fervile followers think j and as an excufe for our fometimes departing from them, for 
the fake of utility. 
There are but three known fpecies of hrooklime^ and they are all natives of this country. 
I. Common 
