BORAGE FAMILY 



suggest it. The plant is a pest of pastures, having a 

 disagreeable odor and a nauseous taste, the burrs, 

 moreover, being among the worst that beset the fleeces 

 of sheep. Being a biennial and first appearing as a 

 conspicuous tuft of leaves it can easily be cut down 

 by spade or hoe. Fruiting stalks should not be allowed 

 to mature. 



VIPER'S-BUGLOSS. BLUEWEED 



Echium vulgdre 



Echium, Greek, meaning viper. 



A troublesome, biennial weed, bearing many brilliant 

 blue flowers. Naturalized from Europe. Dry fields, 

 waste places, roadsides. New Brunswick to Virginia 

 and westward. July-August. 



Stem. — Stout, bristly haired, much branched, stained 

 with red and purple. 



Leaves. — Alternate, rough and hairy, oblong or lanceo- 

 late, entire and clasping; the lower narrowed into short 

 petioles. 



Flowers. — Deep violet-blue, varying to reddish purple, 

 in leafy-bracted, sco'poid racemes at the ends of the 

 branches. 



Calyx. — Five-parted, segments, narrow. 



Corolla. — Funnel-form, unequaUy five-lobed; lobes 

 rounded and spreading. 



Stamens. — Five, slender, inserted on the corolla tube, 

 unequal, exserted; filaments dilated at the base; anthers 

 showy red. 



Pistil. — Ovary four-lobed; style threadlike; stigma 

 two-cleft. 



Fruit. — Four nutlets, erect, ovoid, rough, attached by 

 their bases to the flat receptacle. 



170 



