340 



BORAGINE^ 



Latin pulmo, the lungs, its spotted leaves being supposed, 

 according to the old doctrine of "signatures," to indicate its 

 value in lung-disease.) 



I. P. angustijdlia (Narrow-leaved Lungwort). — About a foot 

 high ; leaves narrow-lanceolate, the upper ones sessile, often 

 spotted with pale green ; flowers pink in bud and afterwards deep 

 blue. — Woods in Dorsetshire, the Isle of Wight, and the New 



Forest. — Fl. February — 

 June. Perennial. 



2. P. officinalis (Com- 

 mon Lungwort). — Leaves 

 ovate, always spotted ; 

 flowers pale purple. — ■ 

 Woods ; rare. Generally 

 an escape from gardens. — 

 Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



8, Mertensia (Smooth 

 Gromwell, Lightwort). — 

 Herbs with radical and 

 cauline leaves^ and blue- 

 purple flowers in terminal 

 cymes ; calyx-tube short, 

 deeply 5-cleft ; corolla 

 funnel - shaped ; stamens 

 long, exserted ; nutlets 

 fleshy. (Name in honour 

 of F. C. Mertens, a Ger- 

 man botanist.) 



I. M. maritima (Sea- 

 side Smooth Gromwell). — 

 The only British species, a 

 singular plant about 18 in, 

 high, with fleshy, glaucous 

 leaves, without bristles, but sprinkled with hard dots, which are very 

 evident in dried specimens ; flowers blue-purple, crimson in bud. 

 —Sea-shores in the north. When fresh the plant is said to have 

 the flavour of oysters. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



9. Myosotis (Mouse-ear, Scorpion-grass). — Herbs with stalked 

 radical, and sessile cauline leaves, and terminal i -sided clusters of 

 small, generally blue flowers ; calyx 5-cleft; corolla salver-shaped, 

 with blunt lobes, twisted in bud, and throat nearly closed by 

 blunt scales ; nutlets smooth. (Name from the Greek, signifying 

 a mouse's ear, from the shape of the often downy leaves.) 



lyc6psi.s arv^nsis {Siimll Bug-loss). 



