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Sid THE BORAGE FAMILY. [Mertensia. 



III. MERTENSIA. MEKTENSIA. 



Perennial herbs, nearly glabrous, differing from Pulmonaria in their 

 short, open, deeply 5-cleft calyx, in the stamens protruding slightly 

 from the tube of the corolla although shorter than the limb, and in 

 their slightly fleshy nuts. 



Besides the British species there are several nearly allied to it from 

 North America and Siberia. 



1. M. maritima, Don. (fig. 695). Sea M.A procumbent leafy 

 perennial, almost succulent, covered with a glaucous bloom. Leaves 

 obovate, entire, rather thick, and often wavy ; the lower ones stalked, 

 the upper ones sessile. Flowers rather small, of a beautiful purple-blue, 

 forming a loose terminal cyme ; the pedicels nearly 6 lines long. 

 Segments of the calyx ovate, very broad after flowering, but scarcely 

 longer than the nuts. 



A seacoast plant, common in northern Europe and Asia and north- 

 west America, at high latitudes, and descending along the coasts of 

 Scotland to Berwick, North Wales, and Ireland. FL spring and early 

 summer. 



IV. LITHOSPERMUM. GROMWELL. 



Annuals, perennials, or, in some exotic species, undershrubs, more or 

 less hairy ; with leafy stems, and blue or whitish flowers, in leafy cymes 

 or 1- sided spikes. Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla with a straight tube, 

 not closed by scales, and a spreading, shortly 5-lobed limb. Stamens 

 included within the tube. Nuts very hard and stony. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over Europe and northern Asia, 

 although most of the species belong to the Mediterranean region. 



Flowers small, white, or pale yellow. Stems erect 



Stock perennial. Nuts smooth . 2, L. officinale. 



Annual. Nuts wrinkled 1. L. arvense. 



Flowers showy, of a bright blue. Stems long and strag- 



gling 8. L. purpureo-cceruleum. 



1. L. arvense, Linn. (fig. 696). Corn O., Bastard Alkanet. An erect, 

 usually branched annual, about a foot high, and more or less hoary with 

 appressed hairs. Leaves narrow-lanceolate, or nearly linear. Flowers 

 small and white, sessile, in leafy terminal cymes ; the segments of the 

 calyx nearly as long as the corolla. Nuts shorter than the calyx, conical, 

 very hard, and deeply wrinkled. 



In cultivated and waste places, in Europe and western and central 

 Asia, not extending to the Arctic regions, but carried out as a cornfield 

 weed to various parts of the world. Rather frequent in Britain. Fl. 

 spring and summer. 



2. L. officinale, Linn. (fig. 697). Common O. Stock perennial, with 

 a stouter and taller stem than that of L. arvense, which this species 

 otherwise much resembles. Flowers rather smaller, of a yellowish 

 white ; the calyx shorter in proportion. Nuts hard and white, very 

 smooth and shining, without any wrinkles unless dried before they are 

 ripe. 



In waste places, on roadsides, &c., diffused over the whole of "Europe 

 and Russian Asia, except the extreme north, and established in many 



