The second is the Water Speedwell (_V. Anagallis_), a smooth plant, varying from six inches to two feet high, abundant in marshes and ditches, bearing small lilac or white flowers in July and August. Its stem is stout, succulent, hollow, erect, and slightly branched; the leaves narrow, acute, toothed, sessile, sometimes clasping the stem; and the racemes axillary and opposite. The flowers are only a fifth of an inch across. [Illustration: THE WATER FIGWORT.] The third is the Brooklime (_V. Beccabunga_), a very abundant plant commonly seen growing in ditches in company with the Water Cress and the Marsh-wort. It is a smooth plant, with a stem from one to two feet long, procumbent at the base and rooting at the joints; erect, succulent flowering branches; thick, elliptical, blunt, slightly-toothed leaves on short stalks; and opposite, axillary racemes of blue (occasionally pink) flowers about a third of an inch across. Two of the Figworts, belonging to the same order (_Scrophulariaceæ_), are abundant in wet places all over Britain. They are both tall erect plants, with opposite leaves, and peculiar greenish brown or dull purple flowers. In both the corolla is almost spherical and shortly lipped. Two of the five lobes form the upper lip; two are at the sides; and the other, forming the lower lip, is turned down. There are five stamens, four of which are fertile and turned down, while the fifth is barren and scale-like, under the upper lip of the corolla. [Illustration: THE GIPSY-WORT.] One species--the Water Figwort (_Scrophularia aquatica_)--grows in marshes and on the banks of ditches and streams. It has a stout, angular stem, the angles of which are drawn out into narrow wings; smooth, opposite, blunt leaves, cordate at the base, with crenate or toothed margins; and long, narrow panicles of flowers with blunt bracts. The five lobes of the calyx are fringed with a conspicuous, transparent, membranous border. The other is the Knotted Figwort (_S. nodosa_), which is much like the last, but emits a disagreeable odour, and may be further distinguished by the little green, fleshy knots of its rhizome. Its stem is sharply four-angled, but not winged; its leaves are acute, and doubly toothed; and the panicle has small, narrow, sharp bracts. Passing now to the order _Labiatæ_, we come first to the Gipsy-wort (_Lycopus europæus_), an erect, branched, slightly hairy plant, from one to three feet high, bearing dense whorls of small, white, sessile flowers from June to September. The calyx has five equal teeth with stiff points; and the corolla, which is only slightly longer than the calyx, has four nearly equal lobes. This plant is abundant in most parts of Britain, and is generally seen on the banks of ditches. [Illustration: THE ROUND-LEAVED MINT.]