SPEEDWELL.
(AMERICAN BROOKLIME.)
_Veronica Americana._
“Flowers spring up and die ungathered.”
IN 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 “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 side 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.
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[Illustration: _PLATE V._]
1 CYPRIPEDIUM PARVIFLORUM
(Smaller Lady’s Slipper)
2 CYPRIPEDIUM PUBESCENS
(Larger yellow Lady’s Slipper)
3 IRIS VERSICOLOR
(Larger blue Flag)
4 VACCINIUM OXYCOCCUS
(Small Cranberry)
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