Veronica.—Nat. Ord. ScROPHULARiACEiE 
AMERICAN BROOKLIME. 
Veronica Americana. 
“ Flowers spring up and die ungathered.” 
f N the language of flowers the blossoms of the Veronica or 
Speedwell are said to mean undying love, or constancy, 
but the blossoms of the Speedwell are fugacious, falling 
quickly, and therefore, one would say, not a good emblem 
of endurance. 
Sweet simple flowers are the wild Veronicas, chiefly inhabiting 
damp overflowed ground, the borders of weedy ponds and brooks, 
from whence the names of “Brooklime” and “Marsh Speedwell,” 
“ Water Speedwell,” and the like. Some of the species are indeed 
found mostly growing on dry hills and grassy banks, cheering the eye 
of the passing traveller by its slender spikes of azure flowers, and 
this is often known by the pretty name of Forget-me-not, though it 
is not the true ‘ 4 Forget-me-not,” which is Myosotis palustris, also 
called “ Scorpion-grass ;” the derivation of which last name we 
should find it difficult to trace. 
The subject of the elegant little flower on the right hand sicle 
of the plate is Veronica Americana — “American Brooklime”— one 
of the prettiest of the native Veronicas, and may easily be recognized 
by its branching spikes of blue flowers, and veiny, partially heart- 
shaped leaves. 
