162 FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE RIVIERA 



in elongated racemes. Pedicels very short, curved down after flowering. Calyx- 

 lobes lanceolate-acute. 



Sandy places, rare. April-June. He de Porquerolles, He du Levant. 



A. tinctoria Tausch. (Lithospermum tinctorium L.). Plant whitish 

 with non-glandular bristles. Stem very leafy. Leaves lanceolate, lower ones 

 petioled, the others embracing the stem. Flowers blue or purplish, rather small. 

 Pedicels as in the last. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, erect. Nuts tubercled. 



Dry, sandy places, rare. April-June. 



LITHOSPERMUM L. GROMWELL. 



L. fruticosum L. Shrubby Blue Gromwell. Small under-shrub about a 

 foot high, covered with close, greyish stiff hairs. Stems woody. Leaves small, 

 linear, sessile, rolled in at borders, hispid above and on the dorsal nerve. Flowers 

 blue or purple (similar to those of the cultivated L. prostratum from Western 

 France). 



Dry, arid rocky places, rare. April-June. Only in a few places on the higher 

 ridges of the Sainte-Baume chain. 



L. purpureo-ceeruleum L. " Purple Gromwell " (Plate XXII). Stem 

 decumbent, leafy, 1-3 ft. long, with shorter ascending flowering stems, ending 

 in a leafy, forked cyme. Leaves lanceolate, hairy. Flowers nearly sessile, deep 

 blue. Calyx segments narrow. Nuts smooth and shining. The long, arching, 

 leafy, barren shoots root at the tips, and thus the plant strides over the ground, 

 and not by creeping roots. 



Woods and shady places. April-June. Very local. 



L. arvense L. Corn Gromwell. An erect, rather branched annual about a 

 foot high, and rather hoary with adpressed hairs. Leaves linear-lanceolate. 

 Flowers small, white, sessile, in leafy terminal cymes. Nuts hard, conical, and 

 wrinkled. 



Fields, crops, and vineyards, common. April- June. 



L. officinale L. Common Gromwell. Much like the last, but stouter and 

 taller. Flowers rather smaller, yellowish-white, calyx rather shorter. Nuts hard 

 and white, very smooth and shining. 



Borders of fields and woods. May-June. 



L. apulum Vahl. Annual. Leaves small, linear, hispid, i-nerved. 

 Flowers small, subsessile, yellow. Calyx very hispid. Nuts rugose-tubercled, 

 triquetrous-conical. 



Dry, uncultivated places, rather rare. April-June. 



ONOSMA L. 



O. echipides L. Leaves linear-lanceolate, hispid, with white or yellowish 

 bristles springing from glabrous tubercles. Flowers pale yellow, nodding, 

 Corolla a third longer than the calyx, with small spreading triangular lobes. 



Dry hills in the montane region near Grasse, etc., rare. May-July. 



ECHIUM L. 



E. italicum L. Biennial, 1-3 ft. high, whitish, with long closely set bristles. 

 Stem robust, much branched and bushy, forming a pyramidal panicle. Leaves 

 hispid, lower leaves elliptic-lanceolate, i-nerved, stem-leaves sessile. Flowers 

 pink or flesh coloured, rather small. Corolla-tube twice length of the 

 calyx. 



Borders of fields and roads, fairly common. May-July. 



E. vulgare L. Viper's Bugloss. Biennial, 1-3 ft. high, covered with stiff, 

 spreading hairs. Root-leaves stalked, but soon withering ; stem-leaves linear- 

 lanceolate. Flowers at first reddish-purple, then bright blue, in numerous one- 

 sided cymes, forming a long terminal panicle. 



Borders of fields and waste places away from the coast. May-July. 



