Genus 15. 



1. Borago officinalis L. 

 Fig. 3549- 



BORAGE FAMILY 



Borage. 



Borago officinalis L. Sp. PI. 137. 1753- 



Stem erect, branched, i-2* high, the 

 branches spreading or ascending. Leaves ob- 

 long to obovate, acute or obtuse at the apex, 

 2-5' long, narrowed into margined petioles, 

 or the upper smaller, ovate-lanceolate, sessile 

 or partly clasping; flowers 8"-io" broad, 

 pedicels rather stout, i*'-2' long, spreading or 

 recurving; calyx-segments lanceolate, nearly 

 erect in fruit ; corolla bright blue, the lobes 

 ovate-lanceolate; the cone of anthers darker, 

 about 3" long ; nutlets 2" high. 



In waste places, escaped from gardens, Nova 

 Scotia to Ontario and Pennsylvania, but prob- 

 ably not persistent within our range. Native of 

 southern Europe. June-Sept. 



16. LYCOPSIS L. Sp .PI. 138. 1753. 

 Annual bristly-hispid branched erect or diffuse herbs, with alternate leaves, and small 

 blue or bluish flowers, in dense leafy-bracted terminal spike-like scorpioid racemes. Calyx 

 5-parted. Corolla slightly irregular, salverform, the tube curved, the limb somewhat unequally 

 5-lobed, the lobes obtuse, imbricated, the throat closed by hispid scales. Stamens 5. included, 

 inserted on the tube of the corolla ; filaments short ; anthers obtuse at each end. Ovary 

 4-divided ; style filiform. Nutlets 4, wrinkled, erect, attached by their bases to the flat recep- 

 tacle, the scar of attachment concave. [Greek, wolf-face.] 



About 4 species, natives of the Old World, the following typical. 



i. Lycopsis arvensis L. Small Bugloss. 

 Fig- 3550. 



Lycopsis arvensis L. Sp. PI. 139. 1753. 



Stem erect or ascending, at length divergently 

 or diffusely branched, l-2 high, the branches 

 becoming procumbent. Leaves lanceolate, nar- 

 rowly oblong or the lower oblanceolate, obtuse, 

 1-2' long, undulate or dentate, sessile, or the 

 lower narrowed into petioles, the upper much 

 smaller and acute or acutish ; flowers numerous, 

 crowded, 2"s" broad, very short-pedicelled ; 

 calyx-segments lanceolate, acute, nearly as long 

 as the curved corolla-tube ; nutlets shorter than 

 the calyx. 



In fields and waste places, Nova Scotia to Ontario, 

 Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Naturalized 

 or adventive from Europe. Native also of Asia. 

 June-Sept. 



17. ECHIUM [Tourn.T L. Sp. PI. 139. 1753. 



Biennial or perennial mostly bristly-hirsute branching herbs, with alternate leaves, and 

 rather large blue violet or rarely white flowers, in leafy-bracted scorpioid spikes. Calyx 

 5-parted, the segments narrow. Corolla tubular-funnelform, irregular, the limb unequally 

 5-lobed, the lobes rounded, spreading, the throat not appendaged. Stamens 5, inserted low 

 down on the tube of the corolla, unequal, at least the longer ones exserted ; filaments slender, 

 dilated at the base; anthers ovate or oblong. Ovary 4-divided; style filiform, 2-cleft at the 

 summit. Nutlets 4, erect, ovoid, rugose, attached by their bases to the flat receptacle, the 

 scar of attachment not concave. [Greek, a viper.] 



About 30 species, natives of the Old World. Type species: Echium italicnm L. 



