BORAGE TEIBE 257 



branched ; leaves lanceolate, acute, hairy ; calyx a little shorter than the 

 corolla; annual. This species occurs in corn-fields and on waste gi'ound, 

 bearing white flowers in May and June. Its roots, which are of a bright red 

 colour, will impart that tint to linen or paper. The plant is a native of 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and some parts of America, The country girls in the 

 north of Sweden give, on festive days, a brighter tint to their cheeks by a 

 rouge made from its roots. 



3. Creeping or Purple Gromwell [L. jJurjnireo-ccenlleum). — Barren 

 stems prostrate ; leaves lanceolate and acute ; tube of the corolla much longer 

 than the calyx ; perennial. This species is easily distinguished from the 

 others by the large, handsome bright blue flowers, which, in June and July, 

 grow on its erect flowering stems. It is a very rare plant of chalky soils, 

 found in thickets near Greenhithe, in Kent, about Mary Church, Devon, and 

 in the woods around Cheddar, in Somersetshire, where it grows plentifully 

 over a large extent of soil. The nuts are highly polished, and of a most 

 pearly white hue, and somewhat wrinkled. 



4. Smooth Gromwell {Mertinsia). 



Sea-side Mertensia {M. maritima). — Stem prostrate, branched; leaves 

 egg-shaped, acute, rough, with hard dots, fleshy, and glaucous ; nuts smooth ; 

 perennial. This is a rare plant on the English coast, growing only on our 

 western shores. It occurs occasionally, also, among the pebbles or sand of 

 some parts of the Welsh coast ; but the northern and western shores of Scot- 

 land are the places where it may be sought with most success. Dr. Johnston, 

 in his "Flora of Berwick," says, "It grew, in the time of Ray, at Scammerston 

 Mill, between the Salt-pans and Berwick ; but we believe it will now be sought 

 for in vain." The learned Sir Andrew Balfour had previously described it as 

 existing there : there can be no doubt, therefore, that this beautiful plant 

 really once adorned that spot. Dr. Walker, referring to this plant, says that 

 it is found flowering in July at Icolmkill, and that it is very frequent up 

 the stony beach of most of the Western Islands, where it highly ornaments 

 the shores, not only by its lovely flowers, but by the bright sea-green foliage. 

 It was considered by Dillenius to be the most beautiful of all British flowers. 

 It was observed by Linnaeus to be sometimes annual, and in other cases 

 perennial ; but on the shores of the Hebrides it appears to be constantly 

 biennial. Upon the coast of Iceland, also, where the plant occurs sometimes 

 in great beauty, it is probably an annual plant ; and in a warmer climate than 

 that of Britain, it would probably prove a perennial. 



The flowers of this handsome Smooth Gromwell are in racemes of bright 

 purplish blue colour, with small yellow raised dots in the throat of the 

 corolla. The stems and foliage are wholly covered with whitish-green poAvdery 

 bloom ; the leaves are fleshy, and without bristles ; and when the bloom is 

 rubbed away, the hard dots appear, which become whiter and more apparent 

 as the plant withers, and which in the herbarium are white and hard like 

 little stones on the dark, almost black, remains of the leaves. The flavour of 

 the leaves resembles that of oysters. 



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