578 



BOTANY 



dimerous, but deeply fotjr-lobed or chambered, with one suspended 

 ovule in each chamber. Style inserted in the depression between the 

 four projecting lobes of the carpels. The fruit is a four-partite schizo- 

 CARP, consisting of four nutlets. Seeds usually without endosperm. 

 Inflorescences scorpioid (Figs. 562, 563). 



The Boraginaceae are for the most part herbaceous plants, and con- 

 stitute one of the most natural and easily 

 recognisable families. The succulent stems, 

 covered with harsh hairs, the entire leaves, 

 the scorpioid inflorescences with spirally 

 coiled branches, the usually blue flowers, 

 and the distinctive structure of the fruit, 



Fig. 562. — Borago officinalis, a, 

 Flower ; b and c, fruit (nat. size). 



Fig. 563. — Echiwii mdgare. 1, Inflorescence; 2, a flower; 3, 

 fruit ; 4, a single nutlet ; 5, floral diagram. (After 

 Wossidlo.) 



all serve to give the plants comprised in this family a highly charac- 

 teristic appearance. 



Kepresentative Genera. — (a) Throat of the corolla with scales : Borago 

 (Borage), stamens with horn-like appendages (Fig. 562) ; Symphytum (Comfrey) ; 

 Myosotis (Forget-me-not), (b) Throat of corolla without scales : Pulmonaria 

 (Lungwort) ; Echium (Viper's Bugloss), with zygomorphic flowers (Fig. 563) ; 

 Lithospermum (Gromwell), nutlets stony, owing to the presence of calcium 

 carbonate. Anomalous : Seliotropium (Heliotrope), with undivided ovary pro- 

 longed into an apical style. 



Geoqraphical Distkibution. — The members of this family abound in the 

 North Temperate Zone, particularly in the Mediterranean countries. 



To the Tubiflorae belong also the two families Hydropliyllaceae (chiefly in- 

 digenous to America) and Cordiaceae (tropical woody plants, with drupaceous fruit). 



