BORRAGINACE^. (bOKAGE FAMILY.) 361 



6. Mertensia. Nutlets fleshy, fixed by the inner angle. Lobes of the corolla rounded. 



■*- -t- Lobes of the short salver-shaped corolla convolute iu the bud. 



7. Myosotla. Nutlets hard and smooth. Flowers all or most of them bractless. 



* * # * Corolla with 6 scales closing the throat. Nutlets prickly, laterally fi.\td to the central 

 column or the base of the style, often recumbent. 



8. Echlnospermum. Corolla salver-shaped. Nutlets esect, prickly on the margin. 



9. CyuoglOHSum. Corolla fuunel-form. Nutlets oblique or depressed, prickly all over. 



Tribe II. HE:IjIOTROFE.3:. Ovary not lobed, tipped with the simple style ; the fruit 

 separating when ripe into 2 or 4 nutlets. 



10. Heliotroplum. Throat of the short salver-shaped corolla open. Nutlets 1-celled. 



11. Heliopliy turn* Throat of the corolla contracted. Nutlets 2, each 2-ceUed, i. e. 4 in 2 



pairs and sometimes a pabr of empty false cells. 



1. ECHIUM, Tourn. Viper's Bugloss. 



Corolla with a cylindraceous or funnel-form tube, and a more or less unequal 

 spreading 5-lobed border; the lobes rounded, the expanded throat naked. Sta- 

 mens mostly cxserted, unequal. Style thread-form. Nutlets roughened or 

 wrinkled, fixed by a flat base. (A name of Dioscorides, from cx'Si a viper.) 



1. E. vulgXee, L. (Blue-weed.) Rough-bristly biennial; stem erect 

 (2° high), mostly simple ; stem-leaves linear-lanceolate, sessile ; flowers showy, 

 in short lateral clusters, disposed in a long and narrow raceme ; corolla reddish- 

 purple changing to brilliant blue (rarely pale). — Roadsides and meadows : rather 

 rare northward ; but a troublesome weed in cultivated fields in Virginia. June. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. LYCOPSIS, L. Bugloss. 



Corolla funnel-shaped, with a curved tube and a slightly unequal limb ; the 

 throat closed with 5 convex obtuse bristly scales placed opposite the lobes. Sta- 

 mens and style included. Nutlets rough-wrinkled, erect, fixed by a hollowed- 

 out base. — Annuals. (Name from \vkos, a wolf, and oy\ns,face.) 



1. L. AKVENSis, L. (Small Bugloss.) Very rough-bristly (l°high); 

 leaves lanceolate ; flowers in leafy raceme-like clusters ; calyx as long as the tube 

 of the small blue corolla. — Dry or sandy fields, New England to Virginia : 

 scarce. (Adv. from Eu.) 



3. SYMPHYTUM, Toum. Comfret. 



Corolla oblong-tubular, inflated above, 5-toothed ; the short teeth spreading ; 

 the throat closed with 5 converging linear-awl-shaped scales. Stamens included : 

 anthers elongated. Style thread-form. Nutlets smooth, ovate, erect, fixed by 

 the large hollowed base, which is finely toothed on its margin. — Coarse peren- 

 nial herbs, with thickened bitterish mucilaginous roots ; the nodding raceme-like 

 clusters either single or in pairs. (Name from avfixj)elv, to grow together, proba- 

 bly in allusion to its reputed healing virtues.) 



1. S. officinXle, L. (Common Comfret.) Hairy, branched, winged 

 above by the decurreut leaves ; the lower leaves ovate-lanceolate, tapering into 

 a petiole, the upper narrower ; corolla yellowish-white, rarely purplish. — Moist 

 places ; escaped from gardens. June. (Adv. from Eu.) 



