304 ORD. XVII. Asperifolie.  LITHOSPERMUM OFFICINALE. 
minus. Gerard, Emac. 609. L. vulgare minus. Park. Theat. 
432. LL. officinale. Hudson Flor. Ang. 79. With. Bot. Arr. 
189. Relh. Fl. Cant. 76. Sowerby. Eng. Bot. 134. t. 154. 
Pentandria Monogynia. Lin. Gen, Plant. 181. 
Gen. Ch, .Cor. infundib. fauce perforata, nuda. Cal. 5-partitus. 
Sp. Ch. L.seminibus levibus, corollis vix salgcem superantibus, 
foliis lanceolatis. 
THE root is perennial, sending forth a long stalk, which is erect, 
strong, round, branched, and beset with short bristly hairs: the 
leaves are alternate, sessile, Janceolate, entire, pointed, hairy 
beneath, above closely studded with minute cartilaginous tubercles, 
which render them rough to the touch: the flowers are small, of a 
pale yellow colour, and are placed irregularly near the ends of the 
branches, which are recurved, but become straight on the matura- 
tion of the seeds: the calyx is divided into five segments, which 
are tapering, narrow, pointed, and permanent:. the corolla is mo- 
nopetalous, funnel-shaped, mouth naked and nearly closed: the 
tube is short, cylindrical; the limb is divided at the border into 
five blunt teeth: the filaments are short, and furnished with oblong 
anthere: the germen is quadrifid: style filiform, of the length of 
the tube, terminated by a blunt cloven stigma: the seeds are four, 
but seldom more than two arrive at perfection, when they are egg- 
shaped, shining, extremely hard, and of a grey or yellowish hue. 
It is found in various parts of England, affecting a dry gravelly 
soil. Its flowers appear in May and June. 
This plant, according to Haller,* possesses narcotic powers; but 
its seeds only have been employed for medical purposes. These 
seeds, which we have described above, by their exquisitely polished 
surface, and stony hardness, (from which latter circumstance the 
name Lithospermum is taken,) have long excited the attention of 
* Hist. Stirp. Helv. n. 595. 
ne 
