THE FIGWORT FAMILY 
73 
is generally about i foot high, erect, wiry, 4-angled, and either simple or with a few opposite 
branches ; and the leaves are long, pointed, lance- or strap-shaped with entire margins. 
Rare, very local. In woods and hedges, occasionally in corn- or potato-fields ; chiefly in the 
eastern counties of England. September — October. Annual. 
2. Purple Cow-wheat. (Melampyrum arven'se. Linn.)— A similar but handsomer 
species, with a long, loose, leafy spike of rosy-red flowers with a yellow throat and dark red lips ; 
rose-coloured bracts ; a taller stem, sometimes 2 feet high ; and leaves sometimes toothed at the 
base. 
Very rare, local. In cornfields ; near St. Lawrence in the Isle of Wight, in Norfolk, Essex, and 
Hertfordshire. August — September. Annual. 
3. Common Yellow Cow-wheat or Common Wood Cow-wheat. (Melampyrum 
praten'se. Linn.) — Flowers yellow, all turning one way and slightly drooping, solitary in the 
axils of the opposite leaves, forming a very loose terminal cluster (raceme). [As described in the 
genus Cow-wheat (Melampyrum).] Stems 6 inches to 1 foot high, wiry, and slender, with a few 
almost horizontal opposite branches; leaves lance- or egg-shaped, often toothed at the base, in 
pairs. [ Plate 26. 
Common. In woods ; in England, Scotland, and Ireland. June — September. Annual. 
4. Alpine Wood Cow-wheat. (Melampyrum sylvat'icum. Linn.)— A very similar 
species to the last, but with smaller orange-yellow flowers which are more erect and have a 
small palate, which does not close the corolla-tube as in the last 3 species, and with entire 
leaves. 
Rare. In woods in mountainous districts ; in the north of England, in Scotland, and in the north- 
east of Ireland. July — August. Annual. 
XIV. SPEEDWELL. (VERONICA. Linn.) — Flowers small, usually blue or white, rarely pink, 
in clusters (racemes), or solitary in the axils of alternate leaf-like bracts, which only differ from the 
ordinary leaves in being alternate. Calyx of 4, rarely 5 sepals, united at the base, free from and 
inserted below the seedcase (inferior) ; corolla of 4 petals, united at the base into a small, very 
short tube, and spreading into a circular (rotate) unequally 4-lobed limb, the lower lobe being the 
narrowest, inserted below the seedcase (hypogynous) ; stamens 2, protruding, inserted in the corolla- 
tube (epi-petalous) ; carpels 2, with 1 style and an undivided stigma ; capsule compressed, inversely 
heart-shaped (obcordate) or notched, 2-celled, many-seeded or rarely with only 2 seeds in each cell, 
opening by 2 valves from the top down the middle of each cell (loculicidal). Herbs or shrubs, 
usually with opposite leaves, the British species being all small, often inconspicuous herbs. 
Flowers solitary in the axils of the alternate leaf-like bracts ; sepals 4 ; corolla-tube shorter than 
wide ; stems prostrate ; annuals. 
(1) Ivy-leaved Speedwell. (Veron'ica hederaefolia.) — Flowers £ inch across; sepals pointed, 
heart-shaped, fringed with forked hairs ; capsule inflated, with 1-2 seeds in each cell ; 
leaves heart-shaped at the base, with 5-7 large lobes. 
(2) Common Field Speedwell. (Veron'ica agres'tis.) — Flowers inch across ; sepals blunt, 
egg-shaped or oval, fringed with gland-tipped hairs ; capsule inflated, keeled, with 
prominent veins, 4-6 seeds in each cell ; leaves egg-shaped, regularly toothed. 
(3) Grey Field Speedwell. (Veron'ica did'yma.) — Flowers inch across ; sepals pointed, 
egg-shaped, fringed with incurved hairs; capsule inflated, downy, 8-12 seeds in each 
cell ; leaves egg-shaped, irregularly toothed. 
