THE FIGWORT FAMILY 
75 
(18) Marsh Speedwell. (Veron'ica scutelldta.) — Flowers ^ inch across, white or pinkish, in 
alternate clusters ; capsules inversely heart-shaped, half as long again as calyx ; marsh 
plant, usually smooth. 
(19) Water Speedwell. (Veron'ica Anagal'lis-aquat'ica.) — Flowers £ inch across, whitish with 
darker veins, in opposite clusters ; capsules oval, not longer than calyx ; marsh plant, 
erect, shiny. 
(20) Brooklime. (Veron'ica Beccabun'ga.) — Flowers inch across, bright blue, in opposite 
clusters ; capsules roundish, somewhat swollen, slightly notched, not quite as long as 
the calyx ; marsh plant, prostrate, shiny, without hairs. 
Flowers solitary in the axils of the leaf-like bracts, which only differ from the ordinary leaves in 
being alternate. 
1 . Ivy-leaved Speedwell. (Veron ica hedersefolia. Linn.) — As just described. The 
flowers are £ inch across, pale lilac with purple veins, stalked, solitary in the axils of the leaf-like 
bracts ; the calyx is composed of 4 sepals, which are longer than the corolla, pointed at the tip 
and broadly heart-shaped at the base, and fringed with long jointed hairs ; the capsules are 
composed of 2 roundish inflated lobes, smooth, without keels or prominent veins, each containing 
only 1 or 2 seeds; the stem is prostrate, 3-18 inches long, and much branched; and the leaves 
are all stalked, heart-shaped (cordate) at the base, with 5-7 large tooth-like lobes, and just 2 or 
3 oval and entire leaves from the root. The whole plant is of a dull green and is more or less 
thickly covered with long jointed hairs, but is not so hairy as the following species, the Field 
Speedwell, from which it is at once distinguished by its heart-shaped sepals and fewer seeds. 
[ Plate 27. 
Very common. In cultivated and waste ground, hedge-banks, &c. ; in England, Scotland, and 
Ireland. March — August. Annual. 
2. Common Field Speedwell. (Veron'ica agres'tis. Linn.)— Flowers often less 
than \ inch across, of a pale blue, often nearly white with a few dark blue stripes, the lower lobe 
being always white, on stalks as long as or shorter than the leaf-like bracts, solitary in the axils of 
the bracts ; the calyx of 4 egg-shaped or oblong blunt sepals, fringed with gland-tipped hairs, 
longer than the corolla ; capsule of 2 roundish inflated lobes, .rough, with rather prominent veins, 
keeled, and with a few gland-tipped hairs, each cell containing 4-6 seeds. [As described in 
the genus Speedwell (Veronica).] The stem is 3-10 inches long, weak, and prostrate, much 
branched from the base ; and the leaves are shortly stalked, egg-shaped (ovate), either slightly 
heart-shaped (cordate) at the base or narrowing into the stalk, regularly toothed. The whole 
plant is hairy and of a yellowish green. 
Very common. In cultivated and waste ground, and hedge-banks ; in England, Scotland, and 
Ireland. April — September. Annual. 
3. Grey Field Speedwell. (Veron'ica did'yma. Tenore.) — A very similar species 
to the last, but having larger flowers, about J inch across, on stalks longer than the leaf-like bracts ; 
the sepals in unequal pairs, egg-shaped, slightly pointed at the tip and not heart-shaped at the base, 
fringed with incurved hairs ; all the petals of a bright blue, veined ; and the capsules not keeled 
nor with prominent veins, downy, and with 8-12 seeds in each cell. The whole plant is ot 
a greyish green and is smaller, though the flowers are larger, than the Common Field Speedwell, 
and the leaves are closer together and are irregularly toothed. ( Under Veronica agrestis. Benth. 
and Hook.) 
A larger-flowered variety — Veronica polita, var. grandiflora. Bab. — with flowers about £ inch 
