VERONICA CHAMCEDRYS— THE GERMANDER SPEEDWELL. 
Class II. DECANDRIA.— Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, SPIGELIACE/E. THE WORM-SEED TRIBE. 
Clusters many-flowered ; leaves egg-shaped, sessile, deeply serrate; stem with two opposite rows of long 
white hairs. — Stems decumbent at the base, marked with two lines of long hairs, which change sides be- 
tween each pair of leaves: leaves wrinkled and hairy, with large serratures: clusters long, shooting up be- 
yond the stem : flowers large, bright blue, with deeper streaks, externally pale purple ; ' capsule inversely 
heart-shaped. Perennial: flowers in May and June: grows on dry banks, under hedges, in open pastures 
and in woods; very common. 
Most of the Veronicas are natives of cold countries, and consequently hardy: they may be increased 
by parting the roots in autumn ; which in pots, should be done every year. The annual kinds may be sown 
in Autumn. 
The Cross-leaved species requires shelter from frost ; it is increased by cuttings made in any of the 
summer months. These plants prefer the shade, and must be kept moist. 
The flowers are flesh-coloured, blue, or white. The Blue Rock Speedwell is a beautiful little plant, and 
is a native of Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Norway, and Scotland. It is by some, familiarly called 
Forget-me-not ; a name given also to the ground pine, a species of germander : but the true Forget-me-not 
is the water mouse-ear, the Myosotis palustris of the botanists. 
It is a lovely little flower, varying in size according to soil and situation; sometimes its diameter is 
about the third of an inch, and in some places the flowers are so small, that it is not easy to find them. 
Gerardo describes it as a species of the Euphrasia or Eyebright. The flower described by Spenser in the 
following lines, to which he gives the name of Astrophel, in compliment to Sir Philip Sidney, whose death 
he laments, exactly answers to this beautiful little wild-flower. 
“The gods, which all things see, this same beheld, 
And pitying this pair of lovers true, 
Transformed them there lying on the field, 
Into one flower that is both red and blue : 
It first grows red, and then to blue doth fade, 
Like astrophel which thereinto was made. 
And in the midst thereof a star appears, 
As fairly formed as any star in skies; 
Resembling Stella in her freshest years, 
Forth darting beams of beauty from her eyes ; 
And all the day it standetb full of dew, 
Which is the tears that from her eyes did flow. 
That herb of some starlight is called by name, 
Of others penthia, though not so well ; 
But thou, wherever thou dost find the same, 
From this day forth do call it astrophel i 
And whensoever thou it up doest take, 
Do pluck it softly, for that shepherd’s sake.” 
The Germander Speedwell is a native of Europe and Japan. “Few of our wild flowers,” says Mr. 
Martyn, “can vie in elegance and brilliancy with this: and many plants with far less beauty are cultivated 
in our gardens. In May and June every hedge-bottom and grassy bank is adorned with it. At night, or 
under the influence of moisture, the corolla closes, but in dry bright weather appears fully expanded ; and 
though each flower is short lived, there is a copious succession.” 
Dr. Withering says the leaves are an excellent substitute for tea. The Common-Speedwell has been 
much recommended for this purpose, especially in Germany and Sweden ; and the French still call it the 
Thi de V Europe. 
The leaves of some of the species are eaten in salad, or as water-cresses. 
In July we have full summer. The “Mirror of the Months” presents its various influences on the 
•■pen face of nature. “The rye is yellow, and almost ripe for the sickle. The wheat and barley are of a 
dull green, from their swelling ears being alone visible, as they bow before every breeze that blows over 
them. The oats are whitening apace, and quiver, each individual grain on its light stem, as they hang like 
rain-drops in the air. Looked on separately, and at a distance, these three now wear a somewhat dull and 
monotonous hue, when growing in great spaces; but these will be intersected, in all directions, by patches 
