BORRAGINACE^. 519 



Tho onc-sidcfl and coiled apparent spikes or racemes straigliten as the blossoms 

 develop : these sometimes scattered : bracts frequently wanting. Echinm, an 

 Old World genus with irregular corolla and stamens, has not reached California 

 (although tho common species is naturalized in the United States) : nor are there 

 any of the first and second tribes with fleshy or berry-like drupaceous fruit ; these 

 belonging mainly to tropical regions. — Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. x. 48. 



A rathnr largo order, of vvido distribution, comprising l)ctween 60 and 70 genera, of no econotni- 

 cnl importance, except tliat tlio roots of several yield a red dye, and those oT Comfrey were of re- 

 pute in popular menicino as a demulcent, while some, such as Heliotropes and Forget-me-nots, 

 arc cultivated for ornament. Altiiough the ("alifoniiau genera arc hardly more numerous than 

 those of the Atlantic States, the species are twice as many. 



As in the foregoing order, tho scorpioid flower-clusters are termed spikes or racemes, although 

 the flowers are not in the axils of the bracts, when these are present. 



EcHiniocAUVA AuizoNiCA, Gray, a new genua of a single species from the middle of Arizona, 

 is doubtless wholly out of our range. The asjject of the plant is wholly that of an Eritrichinm : 

 but the nutlets are as it were stipitate and indexed over the short free style, with the thick 

 and cartilaginous elongated bases or stalks united in pairs, the whole bearing some likeness to 

 four viper-heads. 



Tribe I. CORDlEiE. Style terminal, once or twice forked ; the branches tipped with a 

 simple stigma. Ovary laterally 4-lobed or entire. Generally woody, ours herbaceous. 



1. Coldenia. Corolla-lobes imbricated or partly convolute in the bud. Style simply and deeply 



2-cleft. Fruit separating into 4 (or by abortion fewer) one-seeded diy nutlets. 



Tribe II. HELIOTROPIE^E. Style tenninal, sometimes very short or none, entire : stigma 

 a fleshy ring or the margin of a disk, which is mostly surmounted by a conical append;ige. 

 Ovary entire or laterally 2 - 4-lobed. Inflorescence unilateral. Herbs or sometimes 

 shrubby plants. 



2. Hellotropium. Corolla imbricated in tho bud, with tho sinuses plaited. Fmit splitting 



into 4 one-seeded or 2 two-celled and two-seeded nutlets;. 



Tribe III. BORRAGE/E. Stylo central, entire or nearly so, tcnninated by a single stigma 

 or pair of stigmas destitute of any aj)pendage, its base surrounded by the divisions of the 

 deeply 4-parted ovary, which in fruit are separate dry nutlets. Inflorescence mf>st]y uni- 

 lateral and scorpioid. Herbs, rarely somewhat shrubby plants, commonly scabrous or 

 hispid. 



* Nutlets naked in the base of the equal and unchanged calyx. 



4- NntlotB fixed by thoir vory Imso to a Hat roceptiudo, oront ; tho Rear flat mid rather sinnll. 



3. Llthospermum. Nutlets bony. Flowers loafy-bractod. Corolla-lobes imbricated in tho 



bud, as in all the following but No. 4. 



4. MyoBotis. Nutlets thin-crustaceous, smooth. Inflorescence bractless. Corolla-lobes con- 



volute in the bud. 



+- +■ Nutlets fixed by some part of the inner angle or face, either next the base or higher up, to 

 a conical, low-pyramidal, or more elevated receptacle (gynobase), 



++ Unarmed and except one species unappendaged, erect. 



5. Mertensia. Flowers violet or blue. Nutlets rather fleshy, becoming coriaceous. Smooth 



or H()ft-i)ubcscent perennials. 



6. Amsinckia. Flowers bright yellow. Nutlets roriacooua or crustaccoua, fixed above the 



base. Cotyledons 4, that is each of the pair 2-parted ! Hristly-hispid annuals. 



7. Eritrichium. Flowers in o\n-s wiiite. Nutlets coriaceous or cartilaginous, ovato or tri- 



angular. Hirsute or hispid, mostly annuals. 



++ ++ Glochidiate or otherwise armed or prickly nutlets, becoming burs (sticking in the fleece or 

 hair of sheep and cattle) : calyx open or spreading in fruit : corolla blue or white. 



8. EohinoBpermnm. Nutlets erect : tho margin surrounded by bni bed -tipped prickles. Flow- 



ers Hinnll, ill piirlly liracti'il riiccmes or spikcH. AiiiiiimIh or bi('iiiiinlH. 

 0. Cynoglosaum. Nutlets becoming depicsscd, obliipie or hoii/oiitnl, all the back covered 

 with short and stout barl)ed-tip|»ed bristles or prickles, iit maturity separating from the 

 receptacle from tlie base upwaids and liangiug awhile from the .stylo. Flowers larger, 

 in bractless panidcd racemes. Ours perennial. 



