338 



BORAOfNEiE 



plant, 2 — 3 feet high, with branched, leafy stems, winged in the 

 upper part ; leaves elliptical, acute, decurrent ; and purple, pink, 

 or white flowers in 2-forked, drooping clusters. — Watery places and 

 banks of rivers ; common. Often introduced into gardens, from 

 which it is very hard to eradicate it when it has once established 

 itself, owing to the brittleness of its fleshy roots, the least bit of 

 which will grow. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



2. *S. tuberosum (Tuberous Comfrey). — A smaller and more 

 slender plant with a scarcely winged stem, longer-stalked radical, 



and scarcely decurrent cau- 

 line leaves. — Damp woods 

 in the north ; rare. — Fl. 

 June, July. Perennial. 



*4. BoRAGO (Borage) is 

 represented by one species, 

 B. officinalis, about 2 feet 

 high, with both stems and 

 leaves thickly covered with 

 stiff, whitish, bulbous 

 bristles. The -flowers, 

 which are large, bright 

 blue, and very handsome, 

 grow in terminal, drooping 

 clusters, and may readily 

 be distinguished from any 

 other plant in the Order 

 by their prominent purple- 

 black anthers. A variety 

 occurs with white flowers. 

 —Waste places; not in- 

 digenous. The juice has 

 the smell and flavour of 

 cucumber, which is, there- 

 fore, often substituted for 

 Biennial. 



*5. Anchusa (Alkanet). — Herbaceous, bristly plants with a 

 deeply 5-cleft calyx, and a funnel- or salver-shaped corolla with a 

 straight tube, and its throat closed by prominent blunt scales. 

 (Name from the Greek anchousa, paint, from the use of the root 

 as a dye.) 



i."^ A. officinalis (Common Alkanet). — A soft, hairy plant with 

 an angular stem : narrow, lanceolate leaves ; and forked one-sided 

 cymes of violet flowers; calyx longer than the funnel-shaped 



borAgo officinalis {Co7!t»ton Borage). 



Borage in claret-cup. — Fl. June, July. 



