V 



.^--^ 



286 LIX. BORAGINACEiE. \^^^yos6tis. 



Lo^ver haves on foot-stalks ; upper ones sessile. Flowers somewhat 

 racemose, of a beautiful purplish blue : cali/x 5-parted, angular when 

 in fruit; tithe of the cor. short, glabrous inside at the base, with 

 minute wrinkles at the mouth ; filaments linear, flattened. Whole 

 plant very glaucous ; and, if the bloom is rubbed off, rough callous 

 points appear, which become white and almost stony in drying, when 

 the rest of the plant turns nearly black. The flavour of the leaves 

 resembles that of oysters, 



** Throat of the corolla more or less closed with scales. (Gen ' * 



5—11.) 



5. Myosotis Linn. Scorpion-grass. 



CaL 5-cleft, Cor. salver-shaped, the lobes obtuse, twisted 

 in aestivation, the mouth half-closed -vvlth short rounded valves. 

 Stamens included. Style simple. Achenes smooth, attached to 

 the bottom of the calyx by a minute fiat spot (not perforated 

 at the base). — Named from f/i^c, i^voq^ a mouse^ and ovg^ w-o^*, an 

 ear; from the shape of the leaves. | 



* Hairs on the calyx all straight and appressed. 



1. M. palustris With, {creeping Water >S'., or Forget-mc 

 not) ; calyx with straight appressed bristles cleft to about one 

 third of its length, wdien in fruit campanulate open shorter than 

 the diverging pedicels, teeth short triangular, limb of the 

 corolla flat longer than the tube, lobes slightly emarginate, style 

 as long as the calyx. — a. pubescence of the stem spreading (or 

 wanting). E.B, t. 1973. M. scorpioides, palustris L. : Sm. 

 Fl. Brit, 1. p. 212, — /3. pubescence more or less appressed. 

 M. strigulosa Reich. 



Ditches and sides of rivers, abundant. %. 6 — 8. — A very beau- 

 tiful, though common plant, and considered to be the emblem of 

 friendship in almost every part of Europe, About 1 foot high. 

 Flowers among the largest of our species, bright blue with a vellow 

 eye, and a small white ray at the base of each segment. 



2. M. repens Don (creeping Water S.) ; calyx with straight 

 appressed bristles cleft to about the middle, when in fruit open 

 or connivent shorter than the diverging pedicels, teeth narrow- 

 lanceolate acute, limb of the corolla flat longer than the tube, 

 lobes somewhat emarginate, style as long as the calyx, pu- 

 bescence of the stem spreading. Borr. in E. B. S. t. 2703. 



Moist boggy situations in England and Scotland. % 6—8. 

 We fear this is not distinct from the last : the character is most un- 

 satisfactory. De Candolle unites them. 



3. M. ccespitosa Schultz (tufted Water S.); calyx with 

 straight appressed bristles, when in fruit campanulate open 

 shorter than the diverging pedicels, teeth narrow-lanceolate 

 bluntish, limb of the corolla concaye (or flat when fully ex- 



