THE BOBAGE FAMILY. 233 



LXVII.— THE JESSAMINE FAMILY. Jasmindcece. 



Slender, twiggy shrubs or small trees, with trifoliolate or pinna tifid 

 leaves, the stems sometimes twining. Flowers in corymbs arising 

 from the axils of the leaves, white or yellow, and generally sweet- 

 scented. Calyx of five to eight sepals, united nearly to the top ; 

 corolla regular, of the same number of petals, united for the lower 

 half into a tube, in which the two stamens are inserted, and which 

 conceals them from view. Ovary one-celled ; style one ; stigma two- 

 lobed ; fruit either a double berry or a capsule. In some points these 

 plants resemble the Oleacece (p. 218), but in that family the flowers 

 are regularly tetramerous in every part, whereas here the parts of the 

 flower bear no precise numerical relation to the stamens. They are 

 natives chiefly of tropical India, in all parts of which they abound. 

 Two belong to Southern Europe, and with several of the Asiatic 

 species have been transplanted into our gardens. The principal are 

 the common white jessamine, or Jasminimi officinale, so delicious in 

 its odour, and so valuable as consenting to live in town ; and the 

 yellow-flowered fruticans, hiimile, revolktuni, and rMdiflorum, which 

 last opens its flowers as early as January. 



LXVIII.— THE BORAGE FAMILY. Boragindcece. 



Herbaceous plants, with simple, undivided, alternate, lanceolate, 

 oval, or heart-shaped leaves, in most cases rough with strong white 

 hairs, the leaf-stalks generally much widened, and merging into the 

 blade. Flowers generally in racemes that are more or less branched, 

 and while young, coiled spirally inwards, but as the blooming pro- 

 ceeds, unrolled and straightened, after the manner of a fern-leaf. 

 (Fig. 145.) Corolla regular, pentamerous, either flat and star-shaped, 

 or tubular and cup-shaped ; often with an inner ring of little pointed 

 scales resembling abortive stamens, which they probably are. In a 

 few cases the corolla is rather irregular. Stamens five, inserted on 

 the petals, and alternate with them ; pistil one ; ovary two or four- 

 lobed, the divisions, when ripe, resembling seeds, and covered, or 

 nearly so, by the persistent calyx. The flowers are of various colours, 

 blue predominating, and the tints generally bright and clear. The 

 blue ones, when in bud, and when they first open, are in many species 



