76 WILD FLOWERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
across, and the corolla longer than the calyx, is found in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of 
Wight. 
Common. In cultivated and waste ground, hedge-banks, &c. ; in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
April — September. Annual. 
4. *Tournefort’s Speedwell. (Veronica Tournefor'tii. C. Gmel.)— Not a native. 
A beautiful species with large flowers, about \ inch across, of a brilliant blue veined with darker 
blue, the small lower petal almost white, solitary in the axils of the leaf-like bracts, on long stalks, 
2, 3, or 4 times as long as the leaf-like bracts. The 4 sepals are lance-shaped, pointed, and fringed 
with incurved hairs, spreading into 2 diverging pairs in fruit ; the capsule is inversely kidney-shaped, 
of 2 diverging, roundish, much flattened lobes, strongly keeled, with a few gland-tipped hairs, 
each cell containing 5-8 seeds. [As described in the genus Speedwell (Veronica).] The whole 
plant is somewhat similar to the Common Field Speedwell (Veronica agrestis), but is much stouter 
and larger, and its heart-shaped leaves are larger, coarsely toothed, and almost stalkless. ( Veronica 
Buxbaumit. Tenore.) \Plate 27. 
A native of eastern Europe and central Asia. Abundant in England in cultivated fields and 
waysides, now quite naturalised throughout England, Ireland, and the south of Scotland. April — 
October. Annual. 
Flowers in clusters (racemes) terminating the stem and branches, formed by the crowding together 
of the solitary flowers in the axils of the alternate leaf-like bracts, which are much smaller than 
and different from the leaves proper. 
5. Finger-leaved Speedwell. (Veron'ica triphyTlos. Linn.)— Flowers \ inch across, 
dark blue, in terminal clusters ; the upper leaf-like bracts entire and the lower 3- or even 5-lobed ; 
the sepals blunt, oblong, clothed with gland-tipped hairs, in unequal pairs, rather longer than 
the corolla ; capsules shorter than the calyx, roundish, flattened, keeled, of 2 lobes, each 
containing numerous thin concave seeds. [As described in the genus Speedwell (Veronica).] 
The stem is from 2 inches to 1 foot high, prostrate at the base and then erect, branched ; the 
lowest leaves are egg-shaped, entire or toothed, and stalked, while the others are stalkless (sessile) 
and deeply lobed from the base (palmatifid) into 3-7 entire lobes ; the whole plant is clothed with 
gland-tipped hairs. 
Very rare. In sandy fields in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Yorkshire. April — June. Annual. 
6. Vernal Speedwell. (Veron'ica ver'na. Linn.)— A very small species, 1-3 inches 
high, with numerous minute pale blue flowers in the axils of the alternate leaf-like bracts, 
forming long leafy clusters ; the bracts are lance-shaped and entire ; the sepals are 
unequal, narrow, and pointed, fringed with hairs, and are longer than the corolla ; the capsule 
is shorter than the calyx, inversely heart-shaped (obcordate), as broad as long, flattened, each 
lobe containing numerous flattened seeds. [As described in the genus Speedwell (Veronica).] 
The whole plant is yellowish-green and hairy, and has the lower leaves oval, entire, and 
shortly stalked, and the others deeply lobed towards the midrib (pinnatifid) into 5-7 lobes. 
Very rare. In sandy fields in Norfolk and Suffolk. May — June. Annual. 
7. * Veron'ica peregrlna. Linn. — A species with minute bluish-lilac or almost white 
flowers, solitary in the axils of the alternate strap-shaped bracts forming spike-like clusters (racemes ) ; 
narrow sepals, much longer than the corolla ; slightly notched smooth capsules shorter than the 
calyx, with a short style, and numerous seeds ; erect stems 3-8 inches high, and inversely heart- 
shaped leaves, stalkless or nearly so, blunt, and either entire or very remotely toothed. 
Not a native. In fields and cultivated ground in Scotland, Ireland, and Jersey. May — July. Annual. 
