492 B0RAG1NACEJE myosotcs 



LITHOSPERMUM 



bud. Stamens included, inserted on the tube of the corolla, with 

 filiform filaments and obtuse anthers. Style filiform, included. 

 Nutlets smooth, somewhat compressed, thin-crustaceous in tex- 

 ture, attached to the flat gynobase at the very base, the scar minute. 



M. palustris Lam. Fl. Fr. ii. 283. Appressed-pubescent: stems slen - 

 der, soon decumbent, rooting at the lower nodes, 6-18 inches long: leaves 

 oblong to lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, narrowed at the base, 

 1-3 inches long, the lower ones petioled, the others sessile : racemes loosely 

 many-flowered : pedicels longer than the calyx : calyx-lobes triangular, 

 shorter than the tube, spreading in fruit, beset with fine and short appres- 

 sed hairs, none of them hooked or gland-tipped: corolla blue with yellow 

 throat, 3-4 lines in diameter: nutlets somewhat angled or carinate on the 

 ventral face. In wet places, western Oregon. Escaped from gardens. 



M. alpestris Schmidt Fl. Bohem. Cent iii, Nr. 225. Stems tufted, 

 erect, 3-9 inches high, from a perennial root: leaves oblong, linear, or lan- 

 ceolate : flowers in rather dense racemes : pedicels short, and thick, ascend- 

 ing, seldom longer than the calyx: calyx almost 5-parted, hirsute with 

 erect hairs, mixed near the base with some more spreading and hooked 

 ones, erect in fruit: corolla blue, the flat limb 3-4 lines in diameter: nutlets 

 more or less margined and carinate ventrally at the apex. In the moun- 

 tains of Oregon to Kotzebue Sound and the northern Rocky Mountains. 



M. macrosperma Engelm. Am. Jour. Sci. xlvi, 98. Roughish-hirsute 

 or hispid : stem erect, 3-12 inches high from an annual or biennial root, 

 simple or branched : leaves from spatulate-oblong to oblanceolate or oblong, 

 obtuse, 3-12 lines long, the largest ones in the middle : racemes strictly 

 erect : pedicels erect or appressed to the rachis below but spreading above, 

 less than a line long: calyx unequally 5-cleft, the lobes lanceolate, acute, 

 longer than the tube, sometimes the lower ones twice as long as the upper: 

 corolla white, the limb 2-3 lines broad nutlets convex on the back, carinate 

 and margined on the ventral face. In prairies, Brit Columbia to Oregon, 

 Idaho, Texas and Florida. 



17 LITHOSPERMUM Tourn. L. Gen. n, 181. 



Annual or perennial pubescent or hairy herbs with sessile alter- 

 nate leaves and small or rather large white, yellow or blue flowers 

 axillary or subaxillary in leafy-bracted spikes. Calyx 5-parted 

 or 5-cleft the lobes or sepals narrow. Corolla salverform or fun- 

 nelform ; its lobes rounded, imbricated in the bud ; the throat 

 pubescent or crested. Filaments short, inserted on the tube of the 

 corolla. Style slender: stigma capitate, 2-lobed or sometimes 

 truncate. Ovary of 4 distinct lobes. Nutlets 4 or by abortion 

 fewer, ovate, usually white and smooth, erect, attached by the base 

 to the flat gynobase ; the scar flat and rather small. 



L. Californicum Gray Proc. Am. Acad, x, 51. Canescently pubes- 

 cent and papillose-hispid throughout: stems ascending, 4-14 inches long, 

 several from the crown of a thick perennial root, very leafy, simple, or 

 sparingly branched above: leaves bract-like below, gradually enlarged up- 

 ward, the largest ones in the middle, linear to broadly lanceolate, or the 

 upper ones not rarely ovate, sessile or nearly so 1-3 inches long: peduncles 

 1-2 lines long: sepals linear, 4-8 lines long: corolla bright yellow, hardly 

 an inch long, narrow-funnelform, its proper tube about equalling the calyx, 

 its ample throat much longer than the very short lobes, pubescent, outside, 

 almost destitute of crests, the glandular ring at the base of the tube naked : 



