Order 1. MONOGYNIA. 1 Style.

PRIVET (Ligustrum.) Corolla under the fruit, of one petal, ** cut at the edge into four equal parts; berry with two cells. SPEEDWELL (Veronica.) Corolla under the fruit, of one petal,

cut into four parts, the lower of which is the narrowest. GIPSY-WORT (Lycopus.) Corolla under the fruit, of one petal,

cut into four parts, the upper one notched; calyx five-cleft. SAGE (Salvia.) Corolla under, two-lipped; calyx two-lipped. ENCHANTER'S NIGHT-SHADE (Circaa.) Corolla upon the fruit, of two heart-shaped petals; calyx two-leaved.

PRIVET. LIGUSTRUM.

COMMON PRIVET, OR PRIM-PRINT.

Plate 1-Fig. 1.

Ligustrum vulgare.

This delicate shrub adorns almost every garden hedge, in the Summer with its little bunches of sweet-smelling white flowers; and in the Winter, with its grape-like clusters of black, glossy, round berries, which, though bitter and unpleasant to our taste, are eaten readily by the bullfinches and blackbirds. In some cottage gardens the Privet may be seen trimmed into curious forms, and as it retains its leaves all the Winter, it forms one of the neatest and prettiest ornaments of our hedge-rows.

SPEEDWELL. VERONICA.

THYME-LEAVED SPEEDWELL. Veronica Serpyllifolia. Plate 1-Fig. 2.

The

Leaves opposite, smooth, blunt. Flowers in terminal spikes. A neat little plant, growing about three or four inches high, and creeping over the ground on banks and roadsides. upper division of the flowers is of a light blue color, with five purple stripes. The other divisions are white, with from one to three purple stripes. The seed vessel is heart-shaped, and brown when ripe. In flower from April to July.

BROOK-LIME SPEEDWELL. Veronica Beccabunga.
Plate 1-Fig. 3.

Leaves opposite, smooth, ovate. Flowers in lateral spikes.

PLATE I

The leaves and stem are fleshy, and light green in color. The stem throws out roots at all the lower joints. The flowers are of a dark blue, with three or four still darker streaks in each part of the corolla. Blossoms in May, June, and July, and is found mostly in running water, along with water cresses and similar plants, with which it is sometimes eaten.

GERMANDER SPEEDWELL.

Veronica Chamædrys.

Plate 1-Fig. 4.

Leaves opposite, sessile, cordate, serrated. Fl. in lateral spikes. This very beautiful plant is a general favourite, found in the spring at the bottom of almost every hedge-row. Its large corollas are of the most vivid blue, with a pure white centre, but so short lived that we can scarcely carry home or dry the plant without losing them all. They close up also at night, or before rain comes on, and open again when the shower is past. The leaves are hairy, strongly veined, and without stalks. The stem has two rows of hairs along it, at opposite sides, but the flower stems are hairy all round-capsule shorter than the calyx. Some take this for the Forget-me-not,' a different plant, but not more beautiful than the present.

Not for thy azure tint, though bright,

Nor form so elegantly light,

I single thee, thou lovely flower,

From others of the sylvan bower.

Thy name alone is like a spell,

And whispers love in Speed thee well.'

COMMON SPeedwell. Veronica officinalis.

Plate 1-Fig. 5.

Leaves opposite, stalked, ovate, serrate.

Fl. in lateral spikes.

This is quite as frequent on sandy commons and dry banks, as the last is in hedge-rows, but is not so beautiful in color, nor so delicate in form. The stem is procumbent and hairy all over. The leaves opposite, ovate, shortly stalked, and hairy. The young flowers are pink, afterwards changing to a purple, striped with a still darker color, with purple stamens, and not above half the size of those of V. Chamædrys. The ripe capsule is also very different, being deeply notched at the top, and when ripe longer than the calyx. It flowers in the spring and summer.

IVY-LEAVED SPEEDWELL. Veronica hederifolia.

Plate 1-Fig. 6.

Leaves alternate, all stalked, cordate, lobed. Flowers solitaryCommon in fields, banks, &c. Flowering in April and throughout the summer. Stem procumbent and hairy, as are also the leaves, but the hairs of all the parts are very fine, so that the plants will often appear nearly smooth. The calyx is very large-each division of it heart-shaped. Flowers very long-stalked, and bent downwards when in fruit. small, pinkest purple, striped with a darker color, stamens yellow. Capsule round, swelled out, and smooth, with a very short style at the top. It contains four black, wrinkled, shellshaped seeds.

Corolla

O. S. Spiked Speedwell, an upright plant of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk; Alpine Speedwell-Blue Rock Speedwell, and Flesh-colored Speedwell are found only on the Scottish mountains; Marsh Speedwell and Water Speedwell, grow in damp places-Mountain Speedwell in woods; Field Speedwell-Wall Speedwell-Blunt Fingered Speedwell, and Vernal Speedwell, which are annual, the two former common, the other two very rare.

GIPSY-WORT or WATER HORE-HOUND. Lycopus Europæus. Plate 1-Fig. 7.

It has its first name because the leaves, when boiled, yield a chesnut brown color, which it is said the gipsies use to stain the skin of the children they steal, that they may appear as dark as their own. It grows commonly in shallow ponds and ditches, and is directly known by its square stems, small, whitish, whirled flowers, set in the bosom of the upper leaves, which are deeply cut, and, as well as the branches, opposite.

There are nearly two hundred species of Sage, all of which have gaping flowers, like the plants of the fourteenth class. Two species grow in Britain, one of them, Salvia Pratensis, is very rare-the other, called Wild Clary, or Wild Sage, is common on dry places and in meadows. Its leaves are a little wrinkled, scolloped, and serrated. The flowers are in whirls on the upper part of the stem, each whirl with two small leaves