THE MONOPETALOUS ORDERS. 



449 



the Comfrey. The roots of Anchusa tinctoria (Alkanet) and Bat- 

 schia canescens (used by the aborigines under the name of Puc- 

 coon) yield a red dye. 



842. Ord, HydrophyllaceSB (the Water-leaf Family). Herbs, usu- 

 ally with alternate and lobed or pinnatifid leaves ; the flowers 

 mostly in cymose clusters or unilateral racemes. Calyx five-cleft, 

 with the sinuses often appendaged, persistent. Corolla regular, 

 imbricated or convolute in aestivation, usually furnished with scales 

 or honey-bearing grooves inside ; the five stamens inserted into its 

 base, alternate with the lobes. Ovary free, with two parietal pla- 

 centae, which sometimes dilate in the cell and appear like a kind 

 of inner pericarp in the capsular fruit. Styles partly united. 

 Seeds few, crustaceous. Embryo small, in hard albumen. Ex. 

 Hydrophyllum, Nemophila, and Phacelia ; nearly all North Amer- 

 ican plants, some of them handsome in cultivation. 



FIG. 894. Hydrophyllum Virginicum. 895. A flower, nearly of the natural Size. 896. Co- 

 rolla laid open. 897. Capsule, with the persistent calyx and style. 898. Cross-section of the 

 same, the cavity filled by two seeds. 899. Magnified seed. 900. Section of the same. 901. 

 Highly magnified embryo. 



38* 



