BORRAGINACE^E. 177 



ORDER XCIII. BORRAGINACE2E. 



Mostly scabrous or hispid-hairy plants, with watery juice, entire and alternate 

 (or partly opposite) leaves, no stipules, prevalently scorpioitl inflorescence, and 

 regular flowers (in Echium the corolla, &c., irregular), the 5 or sometimes 4 

 stamens on the tube or throat of the corolla, as many as and alternate with its 

 lobes, a single style rising between the divisions of a deeply 4-parted ovary, or 

 from the summit of an undivided one, the cells or lobes of which contain a solitary 

 ovule, the seed with little or no albumen, the embryo straight or rarely curved, 

 its radicle superior or centripetal. Flowers perfect, generally 5-merous. Calyx 

 and corolla free ; the lobes of the latter imbricated, convolute, or sometimes plicate 

 or induplicate in the bud. Ilypogynous disk usually present, but inconspicuous. 

 Pistil of 2 biovulate carpels, although seemingly of 4 and uniovulate. Ovule 

 anatropous or amphitropous. Fruit of 4 nutlets (or by abortion fewer), or a 

 drupe containing 2 to 4 nutlets or cells, rarely reduced to one. Some of the 

 first great division have serrate and even incised leaves, and are trees or shrubs, 

 of tropical or subtropical regions : these well distinguished from related orders 

 by the superior radicle. The true Borraginacece are almost all herbs, mainly of 

 temperate climates, with undivided style and even stigma, surrounded at base by 

 the four distinct divisions of the ovary. Inflorescence and its nomenclature as 

 in the preceding order. 



I. Ovary undivided (or only laterally 4-lobed) and surmounted by the style. 



TRIBE I. CORDIE^E. Style twice bifid: stigmas terminal, not annular. Fruit 

 drupaceous. Cotyledons longitudinally plicate or corrugated. Trees or shrubs, 

 with leaves sometimes dentate. 



1. CORDIA. Calyx tubular or campanulate, merely toothed or lobcd. Corolla funnel- 

 form or salverform ; the lobes and stamens sometimes more than 5. Stigmas clavate or 

 capitate. Ovary and drupe 4-celled, 4-seeded, or fewer by the abortion of some of the 

 cells and seeds of the hard stone. 



TRIBE II. EIIRETIE/E. Style once bifid or 2-parted (the divisions sometimes 

 coalescent to the top) : stigmas more or less capitate. Cotyledons plane. Trees, 

 shrubs, or low herbs. 



* Fruit drupaceous : ovules mostly amphitropous : trees or shrubs. 



2. BOURREBIA. Calyx globular or ovoid, closed in the bud, valvately splitting at the 

 summit into 2 to 5 teeth. Corolla campanulate or short-funnelform. Drupe containing 

 4 more or less separable one-seeded nutlets. 



3. EHRETIA. Calyx 5-parted or 5-cleft, imbricated or open in the bud. Corolla from 

 short-funnelform to rotate. Drupe usually containing 2 two-celled two-seeded nutlets. 



* * Fruit dry : ovules anatropous, pendulous : herbaceous or suffruticulose plants. 



4. COLDENIA. Calyx 5-parted, or in original species 4-parted; the divisions narrow. 

 Corolla short-funnelform or nearly salverform, seldom much surpassing the calyx; the 

 lobes rounded, imbricated or sometimes partly convolute in the bud. Stamens included. 

 Style 2-cleft or 2-parted. Ovary entire or laterally 4-lobed, 4-celled. Fruit separating at 

 maturity into 4 one-seeded nutlets, or by abortion fewer, or in one species by suppression 

 one-celled and one-seeded. Cotyledons thickish. Albumen none. 



TRIBE III. IIELIOTROPIE.rE. Style entire, sometimes wanting : stigma peltate- 

 annular, forming a complete ring, surmounted usually by an entire or 2-lobed (from 

 hemispherical to subulate) tip or appendage. Ovules pendulous. Seeds with a 

 straight or incurved embryo, in sparing or copious albumen. Leaves entire, rarely 

 denticulate. Inflorescence more or less scorpioid. 



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