224 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



LITHOSPERMUM L. Gromwell. 



Corolla regular, funnelor salver-shaped, throat usually naked, 

 corolla-limb shortly 5-lobed. Flowers in leafy cymes or one-sided 

 spikes. Nutlets 4, very hard. 



A genus spread over Europe, especially in the Mediterranean 

 region, and Northern Asia. 



Lithospermum purpureo cceruleum L. - Purple Gromwell. 



Stems decumbent, leafy, 1-2 feet long or more, with shorter 

 ascending or nearly erect flowering stems, ending in a^leafy, forked 

 cyme. Leaves lanceolate, hairy. Flowers nearly sessile, deep blue 

 and handsome. Calyx-segments narrow. Nuts smooth and shining. 

 The long, arching, leafy, barren shoots have the property of rooting 

 at the tips, and thus the plant strides over the ground, not by 

 creeping roots, as was formerly stated in English manuals. 1 



Thickets, hedge-banks, and open woods, especially on carbonifer- 

 ous limestone, from the plains to the hills. May to July. 



Distribution. Central and Southern Europe from the Atlantic 

 to the Caucasus ; rare in Britain, and only in Glamorgan, Somerset, 

 and ajfew other counties. 



This|plant is useful for covering up large areas in rock-gardens 

 where little else will grow, but it must be kept in check. 



Lithospermum arvense L. 



An erect, generally branched annual about a foot high, and 

 usually hoary with adpressed hairs. Leaves linear-lanceolate. 

 Flowers small, white, or rarely blue in the Alps, sessile, in leafy 

 terminal cymes. Calyx-segments nearly as long as corolla. Nuts 

 hard, conical, and wrinkled. 



Cultivated and waste places from the plains to about 5000 feet 

 in the Western Alps and Switzerland. May to July. 



Distribution. Europe, except the extreme north, Central Asia, 

 and introduced as a cornfield weed in many parts of the world. 

 British. 



ECHIUM L. 



Coarse, hispid plants with handsome blue or purple flowers. 

 Corolla with a broad, open mouth to the tube, and 5 erect, equal 

 lobes. Stamens protruding from the tube, and unequal in length. 

 Style 2-cleft. Nuts wrinkled. Calyx deeply cut. 



About 30 species inhabiting temperate and sub-tropical countries 

 of the Old World. 



Echium vulgare L. Viper's Bugloss. 



Stem erect, 1-2 feet high, covered with stiff, spreading hairs 



1 J. W. White, "The Life History of Lithospermum purpureo-cxruleum L.," 

 reprinted, with additions, from \hz Journal of Botany (1884). 



