WEEDS OF THE BORAGE FAMILY. 



113 



on the tube of the corolla and alternate with its petals; ovary 

 deeply 4-lobed forming in fruit 4 hard seed-like 1-seeded nutlets 

 standing close together within the calyx. 



A rather large family of homely mucilaginous and slightly bit- 

 ter plants, represented in Indiana by 20 or more species, among 

 them, in addition to the weeds described below, being the wild 

 comfrey, blue-bells, wild forget-me-nots, gromwells and puccoons. 

 The heliotropes and true forget-me-nots are the only common culti- 

 vated forms. 



7C. 



Hound's-tongue. Dog Bur. Wool-mat. 



CYNOGLOSSUM OFFICINALE L. 

 Gipsy Flower. (B. I. 2.) 



Stem erect, stout, usually branched, leafy to the top, 1-3 feet high; 

 basal and lower leaves oblong or tongue-shaped, slender-stalked; upper 

 leaves lanceolate, sessile or clasping. Flowers reddish-purple or white, 

 in panicles or more or less one-sided racemes ; tube of corolla closed by 

 5 small scales. Nutlets triangular, flat on the upper face, covered with 

 short barbed prickles. (Fig. 77.) 



A vile ill-smelling weed common in dry soil along roadways, in 

 shady pastures and waste places. May-Sept. The root leaves of 



the first season's growth form a 

 dense tuft from the midst of 

 which the flower stalk of the next 

 season springs. The prickly burs 

 adhere rather loosely to cloth- 

 ing and the wool of sheep. Rem- 

 edies: deep cutting in late fall or 

 early spring ; repeated mowing be- 

 fore the seeds ripen. 



The name Cynoglossum is the 

 Greek for two words meaning "a 

 dog" and "tongue," so given 

 from the form of the leaves. In 

 Europe, from whence the weed' 

 has been brought, it has been re- 



rv iv f- /q f n VIOTT-A flio, moon^al rTVr 

 PUtCd tO nave tile magical prOp- 



erty of p rev enting dogs barking 

 at a person if laid beneath the feet ; and wild goats or deer, "when 

 they be wounded with arrows, do shake them out by eating of this 

 plant, and heal their wounds." 



77. LAPPULA VIRGINIANA L. Beggar's Lice. Virginia Stickseed. (B. 



N. 2.) 

 Erect, much branched, 2-4 feet high ; basal leaves broad, ovate, 



Fig. 77. Corolla split and spread apart to show the 

 stamens and scales in throat; fruit with 4 bur-like 



nutiets. (After Britton and Brown.) 



[8] 



