GAMOPETAL^ 113 



all over the world in tropical as well as temperate 

 climates. The south of Europe, and the Mediter- 

 ranean area, and Eastern Asia are regions where they 

 especially abound. 



Most of the Boraginaceas are herbaceous plants, but 

 a few are trees and shrubs. They are mainly perennials. 

 Some are stiffly hairy, rough or downy. They possess 

 fleshy roots and rhizomes. The stems are round, not 

 square, in section. The leaves are, as a rule, alternate, 

 entire or wavy. The venation is well-marked. There 

 are no stipules. 



The inflorescence is forked, spiked, or racemose, 

 occasionally a scorpioid cyme, usually terminal, some- 

 times in the axils. The flowers open as the 

 inflorescence unrolls, as in Forget-me-not. They 

 are complete, regular as a rule, hypogynous, with 

 the parts in fives, with or without bracts, and 

 are wheel-shaped, monopetalous or tubular, bell- 

 shaped or salver-shaped. The throat of the corolla 

 may be clothed with hairs or possess folds or ridges. 

 The five lobes are overlapping in bud. The calyx is 

 inferior, persistent, with five lobes or teeth, overlap- 

 ping in bud or open, and the odd sepal is posterior. 

 There are five stamens, which are epipetalous, of the 

 same number as the corolla-segments, and alternate 

 with them. The filaments are short. The anthers 

 open inwards. The disc is hypogynous or absent. 

 The ovary is deeply four-lobed. The style is simple, 

 inserted between the lobes. The stigma is simple 

 or two-lobed. The fruit is a drupe or consists of 



VOL. III. 8 



