From March to April almost all damp places are more or less thickly dotted with the bright yellow flowers of the Colt's-foot (_Tussilago Farfara_); and later, after all the flowers have ceased to bloom, the same places are covered with the large, heart-shaped, angular leaves, four or five inches wide, thickly clothed beneath with a loose, cottony down which is also sparingly scattered over the upper surface. The early flowering stems are rather thick and fleshy, about six inches high, and downy. They bear a number of small, narrow, erect, scale-like leaves, and, at the top, a single flower-head, surrounded by a whorl of narrow bracts, and a few smaller outer bracts. The inflorescence consists of several whorls of narrow, strap-shaped, outer florets, with no stamens; and a few central, tubular, perfect florets. The fruits are cylindrical, with a tuft of long, simple hairs. [Illustration: THE GOUTWEED.] The Speedwells (_Veronica_) belong to the order _Scrophulariaceæ_. They are all herbs, with simple leaves; slightly irregular flowers with an unequally four-cleft, spreading corolla, the lower lobe of which is smallest; and only two stamens. At least six species of this genus may be found by waysides, in flower during the spring months. One of these--the Thyme-leaved Speedwell (_Veronica serpyllifolia_), is common in most waste places. It is a small plant, with a downy, prostrate stem from three to ten inches long. The leaves are broadly elliptical, slightly crenate, blunt, and somewhat leathery in nature. The flowers are about a quarter of an inch across, of a light blue or lilac colour, striped with dark blue veins; and appear from May to July. They are arranged in several spike-like, many-flowered racemes. The corolla tube is very short; the style long and persistent; and the fruits are inversely-cordate capsules. [Illustration: THE CROSSWORT.] The Common Speedwell (_V. officinalis_) is a small plant, with hairy, prostrate stems from two to ten inches in length. It is common in dry places. The leaves are opposite, elliptical, serrate, with short stalks. The pale blue flowers, which are only about a sixth of an inch in diameter, are in many-flowered, axillary, spike-like racemes. The capsules are of the same form as in the last species, but are deeply notched. This species flowers from May to July.