ndiotropium. BORRAGINACE^. 521 



2. HELIOTROPIUM, Tourn. IlELioxKorE. Turnsolk 

 Calyx 5-parted. Corolla funnelform or' salverform, imbricated and the sinuses 

 plaited in the bud. Stamens included : filaments mostly short or none : anthers 

 connivent and sometimes cohering' by their usually acuminate or mucronate tips. 

 Style entire or none : stigma a fleshy ring or the edge of a peltate or umbrella- 

 shaped disk, which is surmounted by a conical, capitate, or subulate often 2-cleft 

 appendage (this obsolete in //. C^irassavicum). Ovary 4-celled, 4-ovuled. Fruit 

 dry, often 4-lobed, sometimes 2-lobed, splitting into 4 one-seeded or sometimes into 

 2 two-seeded nutlets. Embryo either straight or curved, commonly surrounded by 

 some albumen. — Herbs or low shrubby plants, with the usually small floAvers more 

 commonly spiked and bractless, sometimes accompanied by leafy bracts; the so- 

 called "spikes" one-sided and coiled at the apex, straightening as the blossoms 

 open. — Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. x. 49. 



A larcre genus, widely dispersed over the wanner parts of the world, represented in the United 

 States by iully a dozen species, only three of which occur in California, and two of these are ol 

 great range. The Sweet Heliotrope of cultivation is Peruvian {H. Pcruvumum Lnm.). U. Hvdi- 

 cum, Linn., the common representative of the section Tiaridium, Lehm., ox Hchophytum, DU 

 (by these and other authors regarded as a distinct genus), although a common weed ot waste 

 giminds in warm-temperate and tropical countries, appears not to have run wild in Cahtornia. The 

 two following are true Heliotropes, with fruit of 4 one-seeded nutlets, distinct stamens, Howers in 

 bractless spikes, &c. 



§ 1. Fruit A-lobed, s2Mtm(/ into 4 one-seeded mitlets.—TrnG Heliotropium. 



1. H. Curassavicum, Linn. A glabrous and somewhat glaucous succulent 

 herb, a span to a foot high, diffusely spreading : leaves oblanceolate, varying either 

 to linear or to obovate-oblong (an inch or two in length) : spikes mostly eitlier m 

 |)airs or twice forked, forming a kind of cyme : flowers crowded, pure white, ratlier 

 large for the genus : stigma sessile, umbrella-shaped, nearly flat-topped, as broad as 

 the glabrous ovary. 



Sands of the sea-shore, also in damp saline soil in the interior ; widely spread over the world. 

 Specimens from Tcjou {L'othrock) apparently have blue flowers ! 



2. H. inundatum, Swartz. Annual, hoary with a fine appressed pubescence, 

 a foot or two high : leaves spatulate-oblong or sometimes oblanceolate, tapering at 

 base into a slender petiole : spikes 2 to 4 in a cluster, filiform : flowers very small 

 and close : corolla only a line long, white : stigma sessile, thick, surmounted by a 

 short blunt cone. 



California, Coulter (probably on the Eio Colorado) : thence to Texas ; also West Indies, Tropical 



America, &c. 



§ 2. Fricit 2-globose, solid, each lobe or carpel splitting into 2 Jiemispherical one-seeded 

 nutlets : corolla pretty large : style long : truncate cone of the stigma bearded 

 ivith a tuft of strong bristles. — Euploca, Gray. {Eiqiloca, jSTutt.) 



3. H. convolvulaceum, Gray. Annual, with diff'use 'or spreading branches 

 from the base (a span to a foot long), hoary or strigose-hispid : leaves oblong-lance- 

 olate or ovate, petioled : floAvers scattered, short-pedicelled, generally opposite the 

 leaves, sweet-scented, opening toAvards evening : corolla Avhite, Avith the upper part 

 of the hairy tube somcAvhat enlarged and the orifice narroAved, and a rotate scarcely 

 lobed but plaited border : anthers Avith slightly cohering tips. — :Mem. Am. Acad, 

 vi. 403 ; Proc. Am. Acad. v. 340, x. 50. Eiq^loca convolvidacea, Nutt. m Trans. 

 Am. Phil. Soc. n. ser. v. 189 ; Torr. in Marcy, Eep. t. 15. 



In white sand near "Soda Lake," Dr. Cooper. Otherwise known only east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, on sandy plains, from Nebraska to Texas. 



