BORAGE FAMILY 205 



IV. MYOSOTIS L. 



Low, annual, biennial, or perennial herbs ; stems branching, 

 erect, or diffuse. Leaves alternate, entire. Flowers small, 

 blue, pink, or white, in elongated, bractless racemes. Calyx 

 5-cleft, the lobes erect or spreading in fruit. Corolla salver- 

 form, 5-lobed, the tube as long as the calyx, the throat with 

 5 small appendages. Stamens 5, inserted in the tube of the 

 corolla, included. Ovary 4-parted ; style slender. Nutlets 

 smooth or downy, elliptical, compressed.* 



1. M. scorpioides L. FoRGET-Ms-NoT. Perennial, from slender 

 rootstocks; stems slender, downy, rooting at the nodes, 6-15 in. 

 long. Leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, narrowed to the 

 sessile base, appressed-downy. Racemes many-flowered ; pedicels 

 becoming elongated in fruit. Lobes of the calyx shorter than the 

 tube, spreading in fruit. Corolla blue, with a yellow eye. Nutlets 

 angled, smooth. In gardens and often naturalized from Europe.* 



2. M. laxa Lehm. SMALL FORGET-ME-NOT. Annual or perennial ; 

 whole plant downy ; stem slender, weak, decumbent and rooting at 

 the base, 1-2 ft. long. Lower leaves spatulate, the upper lanceolate. 

 Racemes loosely flowered, becoming elongated in fruit; pedicels 

 spreading. Calyx rough-hairy, the lobes as long as the tube. Corolla 

 pale blue, with a yellow eye. Nutlets convex on all sides. On low 

 ground and in brooks and ponds.* 



V. MERTENSIA Roth. 



Perennial herbs. Leaves generally pale, smooth, and entire. 

 Calyx short, deeply 5-cleft or 5-parted. Corolla somewhat 

 trumpet-shaped or funnel-shaped, often with 5 small folds or 

 ridges in the throat, between the points of insertion of the 

 stamens. Style long and slender. Nutlets smooth, or at length 

 becoming wrinkled. 



1. M. virginica Link. LUNGWORT, BLUEBELLS. Smooth, nearly 

 erect, 1-1J ft. high. Basal leaves large, obovate or nearly so, and 

 petioled ; stem leaves smaller, sessile. Flowers clustered. Corolla 

 nearly trumpet-shaped, varying with age from lilac to blue (or occa- 

 sionally white). Stamens with slender filaments projecting beyond 

 the corolla tube. Damp, open woods, and banks of streams ; some- 

 times cultivated. 



