** [ i o 75 ]
VERONICA ferpyllifoliaf
Smooth Speedwell.
DIANDRIA Monogyniq.
G est. C har. Cor. inferior, o f i petal, 4-cleft, wheel*
fliaped ; lower divifion narrowed:. Capf. a-celled.
S pe c. C h a r . Clufter terminal, rather fpicate. Leaves
ovate, llightly crenate, three-nerved, fmooth,
Capfule inverfely heart-fhaped, fhorter than the
flyle.
Syn . Veronica ferpyllifolia. Linn. Sp. P I. 15. Sm,
FI. Brit. 1 9. Hudf. 4. With, 14. Hull. 4.
Relh. 4. ed. 1 . 7. Sihth. 5. Abhut. 3. Curt.
Lond. fa fc. 1. t. 3.
V . pratenfis minor. Rail Syn. 279,
T . , . 7 ~ ~:l'. '
J- H IS little Veronica is common enough in grafly paftures,
which are rather moift; fometimes in the fhady parts of cultivated
grounds, flowering in the early part ef fummer. The
pots are perennial, fibrous, and the proftrate ftems throw out.
numerous radicles by which the plant is much increafed. The
flowering branches are moftly erect, bearing a few pairs of op-
pofite, rpundith, flightly crenate, 3-ribbed leaves on fhortifh
footftalks. Each branch terminates in a lax fpike or racemus of
final], pale blue, fometimes fleth-coloured flowers, accompanied
by elliptical, fefiile bradea. The fegments of the calyx are
equal, obovate, blunt, fqarcely at all pubefcent. The corolla, '
however pale occafiohally, is always marked with dark blue
ftreaks. Capfule inverfely heart-fhaped, deeply divided, about
as long as the ftyle. In wet places the whole herb is very
fmooth and fhining, rather flefhy; when it occurs in very dry
fpots, it becomes all over downy; indeed the flower-ftalks and
brabiece are frequently liable to this alteration.
From a comparifori of fpecimens of Mr. Dickfon’s V.humi-
fufa, found in the mountainous rills of Scotland, I have ventured
in the Flora Bxitannica to make it a variety of the above
fpecies, which is liable to many variations with refpedt to the
pofition of its ftems and form of its leaves.