BORAGE FAMILY. Boraginaceae. 



Beautiful flowers, resembling true For- 

 me not * 86 *' get-me-nots, but larger, with velvety, often 

 Ldppula reddish stems, from one to two feet tall, 



veliitina velvety leaves, and flowers in handsome, 



Blue loose, somewhat coiling clusters. The 



Summe corolla is about half an inch across, sky- 



blue, the most brilliant blue of any flower 

 in Yosemite, with five, white, heart-shaped crests in the 

 throat; the buds pink. This is rather common in the Sierra 

 Nevada at moderate altitudes. L. nervosa, of high alti- 

 tudes, is similar, but with smaller flowers, the leaves 

 rough-hairy, but green. This has very prickly nutlets, 

 which stick in the wool of sheep and are dreaded by 

 shepherds. L. floribunda, also growing in the mountains of 

 California and Oregon, has similar, small, blue flowers, 

 sometimes pink, and hairy, gray foliage. L. Californica, 

 of the northern Sierra Nevada mountains, has small white 

 flowers. 



There are many kinds of Lithospermum, chiefly of the 

 northern hemisphere; with reddish, woody roots, hairy 

 leaves, without leaf -stalks, and flowers crowded in clusters, 

 mixed with leaves and leafy bracts; corolla funnel-form or 

 salver-form, the throat often hairy or crested; stamens with 

 short filaments, not protruding from the throat of the 

 corolla; ovary four-lobed, with a slender style, stigma with a 

 round head or two lobes; nutlets usually white and smooth. 

 The Greek name means "stony seed." Puccoon is the 

 Indian name, and these plants are also called Cromwell, 

 and sometimes Indian Dye-stuff, because the Indians made 

 dye from the roots, which yield a beautiful delicate purple 

 color. 



A rather pretty plant, about a foot tall, 

 with severa1 ' stout ' yellowish-green stems, 

 covered with white hairs and very leafy, 

 Yellow springing from a thick perennial root. 



Spring, summer The leaves are bluish-gray green and 

 Northwest, Utah, downy> harsh on the under side, and the 

 flowers are numerous and pleasantly 

 scented, with a very hairy calyx and a salver-form corolla, 

 about three-eighths of an inch across, silky outside, the 

 throat downy inside, but without crests. The flowers 



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