BORAGINACE^— BORAGE FAMILY 



HOUND'S-TONGUE. GIPSY-FLOWER 



Cynoglossum officinale 

 Cynogldssum, Greek, hound's tongue. 



Biennial. A stout, leafy, branching plant dwelling 

 by the roadside and bearing clusters of dull, purplish red 

 flowers. Naturalized from Europe. Dry fields and 

 waste places, from New Brunswick to Minnesota, south 

 to the Carolinas and Kansas. May-September. 



Root. — Thick, deep-boring, black. 



Stem. — Two to three feet high, erect, stout, hairy, 

 leafy and usually branched. 



Leaves. — Basal and lower leaves entire, large, oblong 

 or oblong-lanceolate, sometimes obtuse, six to twelve 

 inches long. Upper leaves lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 sessile sometimes clasping; downy-hairy. 



Flowers. — Dull, reddish purple, in panicled, more or 

 less scorpoid racemes. 



Calyx. — Five-cleft, enlarged in points. 



Corolla. — Funnel form, the tube short, the throat 

 closed by five scales, opposite the rounded lobes. 



Stamens. — Five, included; filaments short. 



Pistil. — Ovary deeply four-lobed; style one. 



Fruit. — Four nutlets, forming a tiny pyramid — splitting 

 away at maturity, but hanging attached to portions of 

 the style. Short barbed prickles. 



The common name Hound 's-Tongue has very little 

 warrant from the shape of the leaves which is said to 



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