GENUS ii. 



BORAGE FAMILY. 



6. Myosotis virginica (L.) B.S.P. Spring 

 or Early Scorpion-grass. Fig. 3534. 



Lycopsis virginica L. Sp. PI. 139. 1753. 



Myosotis verna Nutt. Gen. 2: Add. 1818. 



Myosotis virginica B.S.P. Prel. Cat. N. Y. 37. 1888. 



Annual or biennial, hirsute-pubescent or hispid, 

 erect, branched, 3'-! 5' high, the branches erect. Leaves 

 oblong or linear-oblong, sessile, $"-12" long, obtuse, 

 or the lower spatulate and narrowed into short peti.- 

 oles ; racemes usually bracted at the base, strict ; 

 pedicels ascending or erect, or slightly spreading at 

 the apex, shorter than the fruiting calyx ; calyx some- 

 what 2-lipped, unequally 5-cleft, the lobes lanceolate, 

 acute, longer than the tube, connivent in fruit, very 

 hispid, the hairs, or most of them, with minutely 

 hooked tips; corolla white, the limb ii" broad or 

 less; nutlets convex on the back, slightly keeled and 

 margined on the inner side. 



On dry hills and banks, Maine and Ontario to Minne- 

 sota, Florida and Texas. Forget-me-not. April-June. 



Myosotis macrosperma Engelm., of the Southern 

 States, with larger flowers and fruit, the ripe calyx 

 nodding or spreading, ranging north to Virginia and 

 Kentucky, appears to be a race of this species. 



12. LITHOSPERMUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 132. 1753. 



Annual or perennial, erect branching or rarely simple, pubescent hirsute or hispid herbs, 

 with alternate entire leaves, and small or large, white yellow or blue flowers in leafy-bracted 

 spikes or racemes. Calyx 5-parted or 5-cleft, the segments or lobes narrow. Corolla funnel- 

 form or salverform, 5-lobed, naked, pubescent or crested in the throat, the lobes entire or 

 erose-denticulate, the tube sometimes pubescent at the base within. Stamens 5, included, 

 inserted on the throat of the corolla; filaments short. Ovary 4-divided; style slender, or 

 filiform; stigma capitate, or 2-lobed. Nutlets 4, or fewer, erect, white, smooth and shining, 

 or brown and wrinkled, attached by their bases to the nearly flat receptacle, the scar of 

 attachment not concave. [Greek, stone-seed, from the hard nutlets.] 



About 40 species, natives of the northern hemisphere, a few in South America and Africa. 

 Besides the following, some 7 others occur in the southern and southwestern parts of the United 

 States. Type species : Lithospennum officinale L. 

 Corolla white or yellow'sh, its tube shorter than or equalling the calyx; flowers distant. 



Xutlets brown, wrinkled and pitted; annual or biennial. i. L. arvense. 



Nutlets white, smooth and shining ; perennials. 



Leaves lanceolate, acute; nutlets ovoid. 2. L. officinale. 



Leaves ovate, acuminate ; nutlets globose-ovoid. 3. L. latifolium. 



Corolla dull yellow, its tube longer than the calyx ; leaves lanceolate ; flowers dense. 4. L. pilosum. 

 Corolla bright yellow, its tube much longer than the calyx; flowers dense; red-rooted perennials. 

 Corolla-lobes entire ; flowers all complete. 



Hispid-pubescent ; corolla-tube bearded at the base within. 5. L. carolinense. 



Hirsute, somewhat canescent ; corolla-tube not bearded at the base. 6. L. canescens. 



Corolla-lobes erose-denticulate ; later flowers cleistogamous. 7. L. linearifolium. 



i. Lithospermum arvense L. Bastard 

 Alkanet. Corn Cromwell. Fig. 3535. 



Lithospermum arvense L. Sp. PI. 132. 1753. 



Annual or biennial, appressed-pubescent ; stem 

 erect, usually branched, 6 -20' high. Leaves bright 

 green, lanceolate, linear or linear-oblong, sessile 

 or the lowest short-petioled, mostly appressed, 

 obtuse or acutish at the apex, narrowed at the 

 base, indistinctly veined, i'-ii' long, "-3" wide, 

 the uppermost smaller ; flowers sessile or very 

 nearly so in the spikes, becoming distant, white, 

 about 3" long; calyx-segments linear-lanceolate, 

 longer than or equalling the corolla-tube ; corolla 

 funnelform, puberulent in the throat but not 

 crested ; nutlets brown, wrinkled and pitted, gla- 

 brous, about i" high, convex on the back, keeled 

 on the inner side, one-third to one-half the length 

 of the calyx-segments. 



In waste places and fields, Quebec to Ontario and 

 Michigan, south to Georgia and Kansas. Natural- 

 ized from Europe. Native also of Asia. Pearl-plant. 

 Salfern-stoneseed. May-Aug. 



