II BORAGINE^ 295 



and with them fill the corolla-tube. To arrive at the 

 honey an insect must therefore press its proboscis be- 

 tween the anthers and the stigmas. The leaves are 

 rough with appressed hairs. 



L. purpureo-cseruleum. — The arrangement of the 

 flower resembles that of the preceding species. The 

 colouring curiously repeats that of Pulmonaria, being 

 first purple and then blue. The plant is pubescent. 



L. officinale. — The leaves are rough, green above, 

 pale below. 



Myosotis 



Flowers in one-sided cymes, generally blue, homo- 

 gamous, with concealed honey. Corolla-tube straight. 

 Nuts attached by the narrow end. There are five 

 British species : M. palustris has the calyx with short 

 teeth and appressed hairs ; in the other four the calyx 

 has long teeth and spreading or hooked hairs. M. syl- 

 vatica and M. arvensis have the pedicels longer than 

 the calyx, the first being perennial with rather large 

 flowers, the second annual with small ones. The last 

 two have the pedicels less than a line long — M. collina, 

 with blue flowers ; M. versicolor, with flowers first 

 yellow, then blue, and finally violet. 



M. sylvatica. — The anthers are contained in the 

 corolla-tube a little above the stigma, but open at the 

 same time as the latter is ripe. They open inwards, so 

 that an insect touches the stigma on one side and dusts 

 itself with pollen on the other. At first the fiower is 

 horizontal, but it gradually becomes upright, so that 

 the anthers are just over the stigma, and in the absence 

 of insect visits the flower is almost sure to fertilise itself. 

 The leaves are pubescent. 



M. versicolor. — This is another case in which the 

 flower changes colour. When it opens it is of a clear 

 yellow colour, and the pistil projects beyond the anthers, 

 so that it is adapted for cross-fertilisation. Gradually, 

 however, the colour changes to blue ; the corolla elon- 

 gates, carrying the anthers, which are attached to it. 



