HYDROPHYLLACE.E. 501 



ORDER LXIY. HYDROPHYLLACE^I. 



Known in general by having the scorpioid inflorescence (and often the rough 

 hairiness) of the Borraginacece, along with an undivided 1 - 2-celled 4 many- 

 ovuled ovary, and the two styles distinct at the apex if not to the base, the flowers 

 regular and 5-androus, and the fruit a capsule, with the two placentae parietal or 

 borne upon the half-partitions. Flowers perfect. Calyx mostly 5-parted or of 5 

 separate sepals, persistent. Corolla 5-lobed, imbricated or sometimes convolute in 

 the bud. Stamens borne on the tube of the corolla, alternate with its lobes. Stigmas 

 terminal, small and simple or more or less capitate. Only in Romanzoffia are the 

 stigmas as well as styles completely united into one. Ovary commonly hispid or 

 hirsute, at least at the top. Capsule in all ours loculicidal. Seeds amphitropous or 

 anatropous, with a close and commonly reticulated or pitted coat, and a horny or 

 firm fleshy albumen, containing a small embryo. Mostly herbs, a few shrubby ; 

 with alternate or rarely opposite leaves, no stipules, and an insipid colorless juice. 

 Flowers sometimes in perfect cymes, or solitary and terminal and becoming lateral 

 by the forking or the unilateral continuation of the stem, or more commonly re- 

 duced to either geminate or single scorpioid and bractless false spikes or racemes, 

 which are in the following descriptions simply called spikes or racemes. Benth. 

 Hydrophyll. in Linn. Trans, xvii. 272 ; A. DC. Prodr. ix. 287 ; Gray, Proc. Am. 

 Acad. x. 312. 



A family of about 120 species, in over a dozen genera, all American, except a few outlying 

 species of Hydrolca, mostly North American, and increasing in number and variety from the 

 Atlantic coast westward, very fully represented in California. Wholly inert plants, of no eco- 

 nomical importance ; but several of the Californian species are familiar ornamental annuals in 

 general cultivation. 



TRIBE I. HYDROPHYLLE.E. Ovary and capsule one-celled ; the cell lined with the pla- 

 centae in the form of a rather fleshy or when dry membranous sac, attached primarily to 

 the walls by two parietal lines, enclosing 4 to 20 amphitropous ovules and (often by abor- 

 tion fewer) seeds. Style 2-cleft. Corolla almost always convolute in the bud. Seeds 

 spherical or roundish-oval, with cartilaginous albumen. Herbs. 



* Flowers in crowded or capitate clusters : stamens and style longer than the corolla. Ours 



perennials, with calyx not appendaged nor much enlarged after flowering. 



1. Hydrophyllum. Calyx with narrow divisions. Corolla campanula te. Filaments bearded 



in the middle. 



* * Flowers solitary on slender peduncles or loosely racemose : stamens and style shorter than 



the corolla : calyx enlarged after flowering. Winter annuals. 



2. Nemophila. Calyx with a reflexed lobe at each sinus. Corolla rotate or open-campanulate, 



mostly longer than the calyx. 



3. Ellisia. Calyx naked at the sinuses. Corolla campanulate, shorter or little longer than the 



calyx. 



TRIBE II. PHACELIE.E. Ovary 1 -celled, or 2-celled by the meeting of the two narrow or 

 little dilated placentae in the axis. Style 2-cleft (in Romanzoffia entire). Capsule loculi- 

 cidal, separating the placentae, which usually remain borne on the middle of the 2 valves, 

 either directly or on the half-partition. Corolla imbricated in the bud. Calyx naked at 

 the sinuses. Seeds between amphitropous and anatropous, with cartilaginous or firm fleshy 

 albumen. Herbs. 



* Leaves all opposite and entire. 



4. Draperia. Corolla tubular-funnelform, destitute of internal appendages. Stamens unequal 



and unequally inserted. Ovary and capsule 2-celled, 4-seeded. Flowers in a terminal 

 scorpioid cyme. 



