96 
NATURE STUDY NOTES 
SPEEDWELL 
GENERAL—One of the commonest of the small 
wild flowers. Grows in waste places and in pasture 
paddocks, especially where there are dry patches: 
also a garden weed. 
LEAVES—Size, relatively large. Shape, heart- 
shaped, with blunt, toothed edges. Hairs, numer¬ 
ous, especially on upper surface. Number, numer¬ 
ous, almost hiding the flowers. 
FLOWERS-—Colour, pale blue with only two 
stamens. Shape, saucer-shaped. Size, less than •£ 
inch diameter. 
STEMS—About six inches long; round and hairy. 
Sometimes upright, sometimes trailing. 
NOTES—Sometimes called “Bird’s-Eye.” Petals 
soon fall after flower stems have been broken from 
the plant. 
LADY’S THUMB 
GENERAL—Also called “Persicaris,” “Willow- 
Weed,” “Knot-Weed” and “Red Shank.” The last- 
named is also given to three or four other weeds. 
Common as a garden weed: also thrives in damp 
waste land and along the sides of ditches. 
Height, 1 to 2 feet. 
LEAVES- -Shape, like those of the willow-tree, 
hence one of the names of the plant. Colour, med¬ 
ium green, with a small darker patch on the uppei 
side of nearly every leaf, near the middle of it, as 
if it had been pressed between a small thumb and 
finger, hence one of the names. Size, 1^ to 2^ 
inches long. 
