| 释义 |
‖ veronica1|vɪˈrɒnɪkə|
[med.L. veronica (whence also Sp. and Pg. veronica, F. véronique), app. from the name of St. Veronica.]
1. Bot. (With capital initial.) A large genus of scrophulariaceous plants (herbs or shrubs) having leafy stems and blue (rarely white or pink) flowers borne in racemes or spikes.
Many species are indigenous to the British Isles and are commonly called Speedwell. Others are cultivated in gardens for their foliage and flowers.
1527Andrew tr. Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters ii. lxxix. F ij/2 A dragma of pouder of ye same herbe Veronica. 1578Lyte Dodoens 27 The Female Veronica is..much weaker, and not so good as the Male. 1657S. Purchas Pol. Flying Ins. i. xv. 92 Ordinarily they gather not of many little or small flowers, as..Veronica. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. 67 May. Flowers in Prime... Valerian, Veronica double and single. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Veronica, the Herb Fluellin, or Speed-well, good for Wounds and to provoke Sweat. 1753Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. s.v., The common small procumbent Veronica, called male Speedwell. 1796Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 15 Brooklime,..and some other species of Veronica, afford nourishment to the Papilio cinxia. 1833Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life (1879) I. ix. 377 For the first time in Italy I found my mother's favorite veronica. 1834M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. 275 The primrose, the lily of the valley, or the veronica which adorn our meadows.
attrib.1868J. T. Burgess Eng. Wild Fl. 42 One distinguishing feature of the Veronica tribe.
b. With distinguishing epithets, as earth-oak veronica, field veronica, foreign veronica. Cf. speedwell b.
1846–50A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 406 Veronica arvensis. Field Veronica. Corn Speedwell. 1847Darlington Amer. Weeds, etc. (1860) 227 V. peregrina... Foreign Veronica. Purslane Speedwell. Neckweed. 1856Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 105 Veronica Chamædrys, or Earth-Oak Veronica (from the shape of its leaves).
2. a. With a and pl. A plant or species of the genus Veronica.
1855Poultry Chron. III. 38/1 To make the garden gay, the following roots may be planted out either in beds or patches: American cowslips,..veronicas, wall-flowers. 1882Garden 6 May 317/3 Tall Veronicas will now need tying up. 1899R. Bridges Idle Flowers Poems (1912) 353 Blue-eyed Veronicas And grey-faced Scabious.
b. In pl. with the. The various species which compose this genus.
1856Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 105 The Veronicas [have]..something graceful, feminine, and fragile in their aspect. |