LABIATE PLANTS. BORAGE TRIBE. 479 



vessel which encloses them. The style is single, but cleft at the 

 top, where it carries two stigmas. When the fruit ripens, the 

 seed-vessel splits into four portions, each closely enveloping a 

 seed, so as to form a sort of grain or nut like that of the Ranun- 

 culaceae or Umbelliferee ; and the four are concealed in the bot- 

 tom of the calyx, which does not fall off with the rest of the 

 flowers. As the seeds, in consequence of the close adhesion to 

 them of the walls of 'the carpel, do not seem to have a distinct 

 envelope, they are frequently said (though erroneously) to be 

 naked ; and hence this group is placed in the Linnaean order 

 Gymnospermia, with which it exactly corresponds. The Labiatae 

 principally inhabit dry situations in temperate climates ; they 

 constitute about one-twenty-fifth of the Flowering Plants of 

 France and Germany ; and diminish in their proportional num- 

 ber, as we pass towards warmer or colder climes. None of 

 them are poisonous or even injurious ; but their strongly aro- 

 matic character prevents them from being used as staple articles 

 of food, though many of them, such as the Mints, Sage, Thyme, 

 Rosemary, Balm, &c. are employed to give flavour to various 

 dishes, or are valued for their medicinal properties, The aro- 

 matic principle is an essential oil, which is found in numerous 

 receptacles in the leaves and stalks, and which contains a large 

 quantity of camphor. 



655. Nearly allied to the Labiatae, but distinguished from 

 them by having a regular corolla, five fertile stamens, arid a 

 round instead of a square stein, is the order BORAGINE^E, or 

 Borage tribe ; which includes a considerable number of herbs 

 and shrubs, chiefly inhabiting the temperate latitudes of the 

 northern hemisphere. Among the British species are several 

 well-known plants of great beauty, such as the Forget-me-not 

 (Myosotis paltistris), Viper's Bugloss (EcMum vulgare), and 

 others. The common Borage is found pretty abundantly among 

 rubbish and waste ground in Britain ; it has an odour somewhat 

 resembling cucumber, and communicates a peculiar coolness and 

 flavour to any beverage in which it is steeped. In common 

 with several other species of this order, it contains a small quan- 

 tity of nitre, together with a large amount of mucilage ; and it 



