BORRAGIXACE^E. (BORAGE FAMILY.) 819 



ORDER 78. BORRAGIJVACE^. (BORAGE FAMILY.) 



Chiefly rough-hairy herbs (not aromatic) , with alternate entire leaves, and 

 symmetrical flowers with a 5-parted calyx, a regular 5-lobed corolla (except 

 in No. 1), 5 sta7nens inserted on its tube, a single style and a deeply 4-lobed 

 ovary (as in Labiates), which forms in fruit 4 seed-like nutlets, each with a 

 single seed. Albumen none. Cotyledons plano-convex: radicle pointing 

 to the apex of the fruit. Stigmas 1 or 2. Calyx valvate, the corolla im- 

 bricated (in Myosotis convolute) in the bud. Flowers axillary, or on one 

 side of the branches of a reduced cyme,* which is rolled up from the end, 

 and straightens as the blossoms expand, often bractless. (Innocent, muci- 

 laginous, and slightly bitter plants ; the roots of many species yielding a 

 red dye.) A rather large family. 



Synopsis. 



TRIBE I. BORRA GE^B. Ovary deeply 4-parted, forming as many separate l-*e*ded 

 nutlets in fruit ; the style rising from the centre between them. (Root frequently red.) 

 Corolla naked and open (without scales) in the throat, somewhat irregular'. Nutlets fixed 

 by their base (separate from the style) ; the scar flat. 



1. ECHIUM. Corolla funnel-form, unequally 5-lobed. Stamens protruded. 



# * Corolla with 5 scales closing the throat Nutlets not prickly, fixed by their base (separate 



from the style) ; the scar broad and hollowed out. 



2. LYCOPSTS Corolla funnel-form, slightly curved and oblique : scales blunt and hairy. 

 8. SYMPHYTUM Corolla tubular, and enlarged at the summit : scales awl-shaped. 



* * Corolla naked and open, or with folds rather than scales in the throat, regular. Nutleta 



not prickly, fixed by their base (separate from the style) ; the scar very small and fiat. 



- Lobes of the tubular corolla imbricated in the bud. 



4. ONOS>fODIUM. Nutlets stony, smooth. Lobes of the corolla acute and erect. 

 6. LITHOSPERMUM. Nutlets stony, smooth. Lobes of the corolla spreading, rounded. 



6. MERTENSIA/ Nutlets rather fleshy, oblique. Lobes of the corolla rounded. 



- - Lobes of the short salver-shaped corolla convolute in the bud. 



7. MYOSOTIS. Nutlets hard and smooth. Flowers all of them, or all but the lowest, bract- 



less. 



* * Corolla with 5 scales closing the throat. Nutlets prickly, laterally fixed to the central 



column or the base of the style. 



8. ECIIINOSPERMUM. Corolla salver-shaped Nutlets erect, prickly on the margin. 



9. CYNOGLOSSUM. Corolla funnel-form. Nutlets oblique or depressed, prickly all over. 



TRIBE II. HELIOTROPES. Ovary not lobed, tipped with the simple etyle : the 

 fruit separating when ripe into 2 or i nutlets 



10. IIELIOTROPIUM. Throat of the short salver-shaped corolla open. Nutlets 1-celled 



11. I1EL10PIIYTUM. Throat of the corolla contracted. Nutlets 2, each 2-celled. 



1. ECIHUItt, Toum. VIPER'S BUOLOSS. 



Corolla with a cylindraceous or funnel-form tube, and a more or less unequal 

 spreading 5-lobed border ; the lobes rounded, the expanded throat naked. Sta- 



* In the descriptions we call these clusters racemes or spikes, for convenience, elnce they 

 BO closfcly imitate them. But the flowers are not in the axil of the bracti when these are 



