196 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



2. N. ovATA (Nutt.) Britt. Ovate-leaved Nama. Stem 

 ereot, pubescent, spiny, simple or branched above, 2-3 ft. high ; 

 leaves ovate, short-petioled or the upper sessile, slightly pubescent ; 

 flowers blue, crowded at the ends of the branches ; sepals lanceolate, 

 hairy, shorter than the corolla ; stamens and styles exserted ; capsule 

 shorter than the calyx. May- August. In wet soil. 



108. BORAGINACE^. BORAGE FAMILY. 



Annual, biennial or perennial herbs, or rarely shrubs ; 

 leaves usually alternate, rough-hairy and entire, exstipulate ; 

 flowers perfect, usually in one-sided coiled spikes or racemes ; 

 calyx 5-parted, persistent ; corolla 5-lobed, hypogynous, often 

 appendaged in the throat; stamens 5, inserted in the tube of 

 the corolla and alternate. with its lobes; ovary free, 2-celled, 

 the cells deeply 2-lobed, making the ovary appear 4-celled, 

 ovules 4, style single ; fruit usually 4 nutlets, each 1-seeded. 



I. HELIOTROPIUM. 



. Herbs or shrubs; leaves alternate, petioled, mostly entire; 

 flowers white or blue, in one-sided scorpioid spikes; calyx 

 lobes narrow ; corolla funnel-form or salver-form, not append- 

 aged in the throat, the tube folded between the lobes ; sta- 

 mens included, filaments short or none ; stigma conical ; 

 ovary 4-grooved, separable into 4 nutlets. 



1. H. CuRASSAVicuM L. SEASIDE HELIOTROPE. Anuual ; 

 stem succulent, glabrous and somewhat glaucous, diffusely branched, 

 6-18 in. long; leaves alternate or opposite, oblanceolate to linear, 

 obtuse at the apex, narrowed below, entire, somewhat fleshy, the 

 upper sessile and often fasciculate ; spikes peduncled, often forked, 

 densely flowered ; flowers small, white, fading to blue, sessile, bract- 

 less ; capsule globose, nutlets smooth ; plant turning black in drying. 

 May-September. In saline marshes. 



2. H. Indicum L. Indian Heliotrope. Annual; stem erect, 

 rough-hairy or hispid, branched, 1-3 ft. high; leaves ovate to oblong, 

 obtuse or acute at the apex, rounded or cordate at the base, wavy on 

 the margin, rugose, decurrent on the petiole ; spikes seldom forked, 

 hairy, densely flowered, becoming 4-9 in. long ; calyx lobes lanceo- 

 late, shorter than the hairy tube of the blue corolla ; capsule smooth, 

 nutlets finally spreading. May-October. In waste places. 



