V E R O N I C A arvenfis.
Wall Speedwell.
D I AND R IA Monogynia.
G e n . Char. Cor. inferior, of one petal, four-cleft,
wheel-fhaped ; lower divilion narrowed;. Capfuls
two-celled.
S pec. Char. Flowers folitary. Leaves ovate, deeply
ferrated ; the floral ones lanceolate, longer than
the flower-ftalk. Stem eredL
S y n . Veronica arvenfis. Linn. Sp. PI. 18. Sm. PI.
Brit. 24. Hudf.6. With. 12. Hull. 5. Relh. 8.
Sibth. 6. Abbot. 5. Curt. Lond.fafc. 2. t. 2.
V . flofculis fingnlaribus, cauliculis adhasrentibus.
Raii Syn. 2,79. >
F R E Q U E N T in dry gravelly fields, watte fandy places, and
on the tops of walls, flowering in May.
Root annual, fibrous. Whole herb generally of a paler
colour than the moll common fpecies of Veronica, agrefis and
bederifolia, nor is it fo apt to turn black in drying. The Item
is about 6 inches high, ereft, generally branched at the bafe.
Leaves oppofite, ovate, hairy, ftrongly ferrated; the lower ones
chiefly on thort foot-ftalks; the upper ones, from whofe
bofoms the flowers are produced, are lanceolate, narrow and
entire, fo as more properly to be called Ira&ea-, and hence
Dr. Withering has lately removed this and V . verna to the
fpiked fe&ion of the genus, to which however they are not
naturally akin, nor ought they to be feparated from triply
llos and other annual fpecies. The flowers of V . arvenfis
hand on fhort ftalks, and are fmall, pale-blue, with 4 lanceolate,
entire, rather unequal, fegments to their calyx. Capfule
inverfelv heartfhaped, comprefled, ciliated. Seeds feveral, elliptical,
flat, with a little dimple in the middle of one fide. The
form o f the feeds and of the calyx-leaves will be found to afford
the moft beautiful and certain marks of fpecific diftin&ion,
particularly of the annual fpecies, in this genus.