Speedwell

Speedwell, the popu}ar name for the pretty species of the scrophulariaceous genus Veronica. It includes undershrubs, several of which are grown in our greenhouses; but the British species, 15 or 16 in number, are all herbs. Their leaves are generally opposite, and the flowers are in spikes or racemes, They are monosymmetric, the calyx being apparently four-lobed from the fusion of two sepals, and the corolla similarly apparently tetramerous and sub-rotate. The flowers are blue, white, or purple. There are only two stamens, an exceptional characteristic, and the two carpels form a flattened capsule. V. Chamaedrys, the germander speedwell, is one of the beauties of our spring hedge-rows; and V. spicata and others are common in our gardens.