BORAGE FAMILY 



BORAGINACEAE 



BEGGAR'S LICE 



Lappula virginiana (L.) Greene 



This biennial herb has the smallest of our common burs and 

 by far the most tenacious. It is common in woods from New 

 Brunswick to Ontario and Minnesota, south to Kansas, Louisi- 

 ana and Georgia. It blooms from 

 June to September and is always 

 loaded with burs during the 

 latter part of the season. 



There appears the first year a 

 rosette of ovate or nearly rounded 

 leaves with heart-shaped bases 

 and long petioles. The second 

 year brings the upright stem, 2-4 

 feet high, with slender spread- 

 ing branches. By flowering time 

 the basal leaves have disappeared 

 and the stem leaves, like those 

 shown, remain. Leaves on the 

 lower part of the stem are much 

 larger than those above. 



The small flowers are nearly 

 white and constructed much like 

 others in the family. The fruit 

 is nearly spherical but splits into 

 4 nutlets which are armed on the 

 margins and back with barbed 

 ^ N^y prickles. 



The Burseed, Lappula echinata 

 Gilibert, is a rare annual from 

 Europe which is found principally 

 along railroads. Its rough, widely branched stems are 6-24 inches 

 high. The very small flowers are like those of the Beggar's Lice 

 but are blue, and the leaves are narrower. The nutlets have a double 

 row of distinct slender prickles on the margins or distributed over 

 most of the back. 



The Hairy Stickseed, Lappula Redoivskii (Hornem.) Greene var. 

 occidentalis (Wats:.) Rydb., is a western plant that has been found in 

 northern Illinois. It is very similar to the Burseed but the nutlets 

 are armed with a single row of stout, flattened prickles that merge at 

 the bases. 



162 



