Speedwell

Speedwell (Veronica), a genus of plants of the natural order Scrophulariaceæ, distinguished by a four-cleft wheel-shaped corolla, with the lower segment narrower, two stamens, and a two-celled capsule. The species are very numerous, annual and perennial herbaceous plants and small shrubs, natives of temperate and cold climates in all parts of the globe. Some of them grow in wet ditches and in marshes, some only on the driest soils. They have generally very beautiful blue, white, or pink flowers. The number of British species is considerable, and few wild-flowers are more beautiful than the Germander Speedwell (V. chamaedrys), or the alpine species, V. alpina and V. saxatilis. A number of species are very generally cultivated in flower-gardens. The bitter and astringent leaves of the Common Speedwell (V. officinalis), one of the most abundant British species, found also in almost all the northern parts of the world, are in some countries used as a tonic, sudorific, diuretic, and expectorant medicine. They are also employed, particularly in Sweden, as a substitute for tea, as are those of the Germander Speedwell, V. virginica is called Culver's Physic in North America; it is said to be actively diuretic, and a decoction of the fresh root is violently cathartic and emetic. Brooklime (q.v.) belongs to this genus. Several of the shrubby species of Veronica of peculiar and ornamental character, natives of the mountains of New Zealand, are now plentiful, and prove perfectly hardy, in British gardens.