Part 128 (2/2)

1. S. Houghtoniana, Benth. Hairy; root-leaves ovate, heart-shaped; spike dense (5--12' long); corolla (greenish-white or yellowish) not longer than the calyx, usually 2--3-parted.--Oak-barrens and prairies, Mich. to Minn., south to Ind., Ill., and Iowa.

16. VERoNICA, L. SPEEDWELL.

Calyx 4- (rarely 3--5-) parted. Corolla wheel-shaped or salver-shaped, the border 4-parted (rarely 5-parted); the lateral lobes or the lower one commonly narrower than the others. Stamens 2, one each side of the upper lobe of the corolla, exserted; anther-cells confluent at the apex.

Style entire; stigma single. Capsule flattened, obtuse or notched at the apex, 2-celled, few--many-seeded.--Chiefly herbs; leaves mostly opposite or whorled; flowers blue, flesh-color, or white. (Derivation doubtful; perhaps the flower of _St. Veronica_.)

-- 1. LEPTaNDRA. _Tall perennials, with mostly whorled leaves; racemes terminal, dense, spiked; bracts very small; tube of the corolla longer than its limb and much longer than the calyx; both sometimes 5-cleft._

1. V. Virginica, L. (CULVER'S-ROOT. CULVER'S PHYSIC.) Smooth or rather downy; stem simple, straight (2--6 high); leaves whorled in fours to sevens, short-petioled, lanceolate, pointed, finely serrate; spikes panicled; corolla small, nearly white; stamens much exserted; capsule oblong-ovate, not notched, opening by 4 teeth at the apex, many-seeded.--Rich woods, Vt. to Minn., E. Kan., and southward. July, Aug.

-- 2. VERONICA proper. _Corolla wheel-shaped; capsule more or less notched, strongly flattened except in n. 2 and 3; low herbs._

[*] _Perennials, stoloniferous or rooting at base, with opposite usually serrate leaves; racemes axillary, mostly opposite; corolla pale blue._

[+] _Capsule turgid, orbicular, many-seeded._

2. V. Anagallis, L. (WATER SPEEDWELL.) Smooth, creeping and rooting at base, then erect; _leaves sessile, most of them clasping by a heart-shaped base, ovate-lanceolate_, acute, serrate or entire (2--3'

long); pedicels spreading; corolla pale blue with purple stripes; capsule slightly notched.--Brooks and ditches, N. Eng. to N. J., west to the Rocky Mts. June--Aug. (Eu., Asia.)

3. V. Americana, Schweinitz. (AMERICAN BROOKLIME.) Smooth, dec.u.mbent at base, then erect (8--15' high); _leaves mostly petioled, ovate or oblong_, serrate, thickish, truncate or slightly heart-shaped at base; the slender pedicels spreading.--Brooks and ditches, common. June--Aug.

[+][+] _Capsule strongly flattened, several-seeded._

4. V. scutellata, L. (MARSH SPEEDWELL.) _Smooth_, slender and weak (6--12' high); _leaves sessile, linear, acute, remotely denticulate; racemes 1 or 2, very slender_ and zigzag; _flowers few and scattered_, on elongated spreading or reflexed pedicels; capsule very flat, much broader than long, notched at both ends or didymous.--Bogs, common.

June--Aug. (Eu., Asia.)

5. V. officinalis, L. (COMMON SPEEDWELL.) _p.u.b.escent_; stem _prostrate_, rooting at base; _leaves short-petioled, obovate-elliptical or wedge-oblong, obtuse, serrate; racemes densely many-flowered_; pedicels shorter than the calyx; capsule obovate-triangular, broadly notched.--Dry hills and open woods, N. Eng. to Mich., and southward.

July. (Eu., Asia.)

V. CHAMae'DRYS, L. Stem _p.u.b.escent_, at least in two lines, ascending from a creeping base; _leaves subsessile, ovate or cordate, incisely crenate; racemes loosely-flowered_; pedicels little longer than calyx; capsule triangular-obcordate.--Sparingly introduced into Canada, N. Y., and Penn. (Adv. from Eu.)

[*][*] _Leaves opposite; flowers in a terminal raceme; the lower bracts leaf-like; capsules flat, several-seeded. Perennials (mostly turning blackish in drying)._

6. V. alpna, L. Stem branched from the base, erect, simple (2--12'

high); _leaves elliptical_, or the lowest rounded, entire or toothed, _nearly sessile; raceme hairy, few-flowered, crowded_; capsule obovate, notched.--Alpine summits of the White Mts. (Eu., Asia.)

7. V. serpylliflia, L. (THYME-LEAVED SPEEDWELL.) Much branched at the creeping base, _nearly smooth_; branches ascending and simple (2--4'

high); leaves _ovate or oblong_, obscurely crenate, _the lowest petioled_ and rounded, the upper pa.s.sing into lanceolate bracts; _raceme loose_; corolla whitish, or pale blue, with deeper stripes; capsule rounded, broader than long, obtusely notched.--Roadsides and fields, common; introduced and indigenous. May--July (Eu., Asia.)

[*][*][*] _Annuals; floral leaves like those of the stem (or somewhat reduced), the flowers appearing to be axillary and solitary, mostly alternate; corolla shorter than the calyx._

[+] _Flowers short-pedicelled; floral leaves reduced; corolla shorter than the calyx._

<script>