16.  And of the families given, he is to note for the common simple characteristic, that they are quatrefoils referred to a more or less elevated position on a central stem, and having, in that relation, the lowermost petal diminished, contrary to the almost universal habit of other flowers to develope in such a position the lower petal chiefly, that it may have its full share of light.  You will find nothing but blunder and embarrassment result from any endeavour to enter into further particulars, such as “the relation of the dissepiment with respect to the valves of the capsule,” etc., etc., since “in the various species of Veronica almost every kind of dehiscence may be observed” (C. under V. perfoliata, 1936, an Australian species).  Sibthorpe gives the entire definition of Veronica with only one epithet added to mine, “Corolla quadrifida, rotata, lacinia infima angustiore,” but I do not know what ‘rotata’ here means, as there is no appearance of revolved action in the petals, so far as I can see.

17.  Of the mythic or poetic significance of the veronica, there is less to be said than of its natural beauty.  I have not been able to discover with what feeling, or at what time, its sacred name was originally given; and the legend of S. Veronica herself is, in the substance of it, irrational, and therefore incredible.  The meaning of the term ‘rational,’ as applied to a legend or miracle, is, that there has been an intelligible need for the permission of the miracle at the time when it is recorded; and that the nature and manner of the act itself should be comprehensible in the scope.  There was thus quite simple need for Christ to feed the multitudes, and to appear to S. Paul; but no need, so far as human intelligence can reach, for the reflection of His features upon a piece of linen which could be seen by not one in a million of the disciples to whom He might more easily, at any time, manifest Himself personally and perfectly.  Nor, I believe, has the story of S. Veronica ever been asserted to be other than symbolic by the sincere teachers of the Church; and, even so far as in that merely explanatory function, it became the seal of an extreme sorrow, it is not easy to understand how the pensive fable was associated with a flower so familiar, so bright, and so popularly of good omen, as the Speedwell.

18.  Yet, the fact being actually so, and this consecration of the veronica being certainly far more ancient and earnest than the faintly romantic and extremely absurd legend of the forget-me-not; the speedwell has assuredly the higher claim to be given and accepted as a token of pure and faithful love, and to be trusted as a sweet sign that the innocence of affection is indeed more frequent, and the appointed destiny of its faith more fortunate, than our inattentive hearts have hitherto discerned.