230 ANCHUSA. [ti^ASS "' OBjDER i 



iV«<s enveloped in the enlarged calyx, hard wrinkled and dotted, 

 excavated at the base, with an enlarged plicated margin. 



Habitat. — Corn fields and waste places, especially in a sandy soil ; 

 frequent. 



Annual ; flowering in June and July. 



This plant, equally comiuou en the continent as with us, is nearly 

 allied to the following genus, from which it is distinguished by the 

 curvature of its tube. The flowers are very beautiful, the white hairy 

 valves closing the mouth of the tube form a delicate contrast with the 

 rich blue of the limb, and they entirely close up the organs of fructifi- 

 cation from the entrance of insects, &c. 



GENUS VII. ANCHU'SA.— Linn. AJkanet. 



Nat. Ord. Bokagin'e^. De Cand. 



Gen. Char. Calyx five -cleft. Corolla funnel-shaped, the limb of 

 five lobes, the tube straight, its orifice closed with five convex 

 connivent scales. — Name from cx.yvoxo'o^ ah ci,yx'», ^^ strangle^ 

 suffocate; the ancients believing that this species of plants 

 strangled or choked serpents ; or, as others suppose, from its con- 

 stringent properties ; or, according to Hooker, " from ayxovo-a, 

 paint. The roots of one species, A. tinctoria, yield a red dye, 

 which was used in former times to stain the face." 

 1. A. officina'lis, Linn. (Fig. 299.) common Alkanet. Leaves 

 lanceolate, hispid, bracteas ovate lanceolate, segments of the calyx 

 acute, racemes terminal crowded, unilateral. 



English Botany, t. 662.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 259.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 101.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 165. 



Root long, small, tapering, blackish. The whole plant rough, with 

 deflexed bristles from a callous base; from one to two feet high, erect, 

 slightly angular, somewhat branched, and paniculated above. Leaves 

 lanceolate, or oblong lanceolate, the lower ones with footstalks, the 

 upper sessile, and mostly very narrow. Inflorescence an incurved 

 terminal raceme, generally in pairs. Flowers numerous, crowded, 

 unilateral on short peduncles. Calyx of five acute segments, more i-v 

 less deeply divided, the bristles upon it close pressed and pointed up- 

 wards, the bractea ovate or ovate-lanceolate. Corolla funnel-shaped, 

 the limb of five spreading, rounded blue or purplish segments, the 

 tube white or yellow, its orifice closed with five broad obtuse hairy 

 scales. Stamens sessile at the top of the tube, alternating with the 

 scales. Anthers lanceolate. Pistil as long as the tube. Siiyina 

 cloven. Fruit four, ovale, acute. Nuts dotted and wrinkled, the 

 base excavated and surrounded with a swollen plicated margin. 



