THE LABIATE. 



'59 



fruit. The deeply-lobed ovary, with the style growing 

 out from its base, and surrounded in fruit by the four nut- 

 lets, distinctly separates the two groups. But does this 

 structure of the ovary distinguish the Labiatae from all 

 other plants ? Let us see. 



There is a family of rough, hairy herbs, known as bo- 

 rages, with flowers in cymose clusters, unrolling as they 

 expand, as described (page 137), which it will be well to 

 study with reference to this point. One of its species, the 

 forget-me-not, is a common, widely-diffused plant of this 

 order, which you may get, and compare with the follow- 

 ing description : 



The Boraginaceae are chiefly 

 rough, hairy herbs, with (not 

 aromatic) alternate, entire 

 leaves. 



Symmetrical flowers, with five- 

 parted calyx, and regular 

 five-lobed corolla. 



Five stamens inserted on the 

 corolla tube. 



Ovary, deeply four-lobed, the 



The Labiatas are chiefly herbs, 

 with square stems, and op- 

 posite, aromatic leaves. 



More or less two - lipped co- 

 rolla. 



lobes surrounding the base 

 of the style, and forming in 

 fruit four seed-like nutlets, 

 each with a single seed. 



Albumen, none ; cotyledons, 

 plano-convex ; radicle, point- 

 ing to the apex of the fruit. 



Didynamous or diandrous sta- 

 mens. 



Ovary, deeply four-lobed, form- 

 ing in fruit four seed-like nut- 

 lets around the base of the 

 single style, in the bottom 

 of the persistent calyx, each 

 filled with a single erect seed. 



Albumen, mostly none ; em- 

 bryo, straight ; radicle, at the 

 base of the fruit. 



Here, then, is an order of plants, the Boraginaceae, 

 which is very different from the Labiatae, except in the 

 characters of the ovary, and in these characters it is almost 

 identical with that order. You have in this instance an ex- 

 ample of the puzzling relationships encountered in classi- 

 fication. The verbenas can not be grouped with the labi- 

 ates, because, though wonderfully like them in many other 



