252 BOEAGINE^ 



"coldgreefs" and "trembling of the heart." It was said to be good for 

 "fainting and swooning, and helpful in all diseases and griefs of the spleen." 



Professor Lindley mentions a gigantic species of Dodder, C. racemosus, a 

 native of Afghanistan, which even preys upon itself ; one of its masses half 

 covered a willow-trse twenty or thirty feet high, and Sir J. D. Hooker saw a 

 Dodder in Nepal ^vhich formed a golden web over date-trees. One or two 

 other species, called Sipo de Chumbo, are articles of Brazilian pharmacy. 

 Lindley mentions that the powder of the dried plants sprinkled over wounds 

 is thought to be healing. 



4. Clover Dodder (C. irifdlii). — Heads of flowers small, sessile, and 

 having a bract at the base ; tube of the corolla cylindrical ; scales converging ; 

 calyx narrowed below, as long as the tube of the corolla ; annual. This plant 

 is very similar to the last, differing from it in having rounded spaces between 

 the scales, while in the last these spaces are narrow and acute. The stems 

 are, however, of a more yellowish-red. It is found chiefly on clover in the Isle 

 of Wight, and some other parts of England, bearing its small white flowers 

 in June and July. It is supposed to have been introduced with clover-seeds 

 from the Continent, but some botanists doubt if it is any more than a variety 

 of the Lesser Dodder. 



Order LVIII. BORAGINEiE— BORAGE TRIBE. 



Calyx in 5, rarely 4, deep divisions, not falling off" ; corolla wheel-shaped, 

 bell-shaped, or salver-shaped, 5- or rarely 4-cleft, frequently having valves or 

 teeth at the mouth of the tube ; stamens 5, inserted into the corolla, and 

 alternate with its lobes ; ovary 4-parted, 4-seeded ; style 1, rising from the 

 base of the divided ovary ; fruit consisting of 4, rarely 2, nut-like seeds, each 

 enclosed in a pericarp. This order consists of herbs or shrubs, with alternate 

 leaves without stipules, their surface covered with minute asperities, on which 

 are seated hairs or bristles, and with flowers arranged mostly in one-sided 

 spikes or cymes. Many of the plants are eminently beautiful, like the 

 different species of Viper's Bugloss, and in many the young buds are rolled 

 up at the termination of the spikes into a little coil, and are pink, while the 

 expanded flowers are blue. Blue, purple, and red are the prevailing colours 

 of the blossoms. They are not remarkable for useful properties, but several 

 possess a slight degree of mucilage, and the roots of some, like the Alkanet, 

 are used in dyeing. Many of the plants of the order are mere weeds, with 

 little beauty. 



1. Viper's Bugloss (Echium). — Corolla irregular, with an open mouth ; 

 stamens unequal in length. Name from the Greek ecJiis, a viper, because the 

 plants were supposed to cure wounds made by the bite of that reptile. 



2. Lungwort {Pulmondria). — Calyx tubular, 5-cleft ; corolla funnel- 

 shaped, its throat naked ; stamens enclosed within the corolla ; filaments very 

 short. Name from the Latin pulmo, the lungs, from its ancient use in 

 pulmonary aff"ections. 



3. Cromwell (Lithosp&mum). — Calyx deeply 5-cleft; corolla funnel- 

 shaped, its throat naked, or with 5 minute scales ; stamens enclosed within 



