Myosolis.] LIIL BORAGINEjE. 313 



going, from a few inches to near a foot high, with a spreading tuft 

 of radical leaves, and a few erect ones along the stem. Flowers 

 small and nearly sessile ; the calyx-segments quite closed over the 

 fruit after flowering ; the corolla small, at first pale yellow, and turn- 

 ing blue as it fades. 



On banks, in meadows and pastures, in central and southern Europe 

 and western Asia, extending northwards into Scandinavia. Abundant 

 in Britain. Fl. spring. 



VI. ANCHUSA. ALKANET. 



Coarse, hairy biennials or perennials, with rather large blue flowers, 

 in 1 -sided spikes, with a bract under each flower. Calyx deeply 

 5-cleft. Corolla with a straight tube, often slightly enlarged at the 

 top, and closed at the mouth by usually hairy scales ; the limb spread- 

 ing and 5-lobed. Stamens included in the tube. Nuts rather large, 

 wrinkled, angular, attached by their broad, concave base. 



The species are numerous in southern Europe and western Asia, a 

 very few extending far to the north. 



Leaves lanceolate. Flowers in terminal forked panicles . . 1. A. officinalis. 

 Leaves broadly ovate. Flowers in short axillary spikes . . 2. A. sempervirens. 



1. A. officinalis, Linn. (fig. 704). Common A. — A biennial, about 

 2 feet high, with coarse, stiff hairs ; the root thick and hard. Radical 

 leaves long and stalked ; the lower stem-leaves lanceolate, broad and 

 narrow, from 2 to 5 or 6 inches long ; the upper ones gradually 

 smaller. The 1 -sided forked spikes lengthen considerably as the 

 flowering advances, and form a kind of terminal panicle. Flowers 

 nearly sessile, with a small, leafy bract at the base of each ; the calyx 

 very stiffly hairy, with narrow divisions ; the corolla of a rich blue, 

 and rather large, but varies in size. 



In waste places, on roadsides, &c, all over the continent of Europe, 

 except the extreme north, and eastward to the Caucasus. In Britain 

 only on ballast hills, and very rare. Fl. summer. 



2. A. sempervirens, Linn. (fig. 705). Green A.— Stock perennial, 

 the stems more straggling than those of A. officinalis, but covered 

 with the same coarse, stiff hairs. Leaves broadly ovate ; the flowers 

 in 1 -sided, short spikes, leafy at the base, and placed in the axils of 

 the stem-leaves. Corolla of a rich blue, with a shorter tube than in 

 A. officinalis. Nuts expanded at the base on the inner side into a 

 small convex appendage. 



In waste places, on roadsides, &c, in western Europe, scarcely ex- 

 tending eastward along the Mediterranean, and not reaching the 

 Rhine. Scattered over several parts of Britain, but not truly wild. 

 Fl. spring and summer. 



VII. LYCOPSIS. BUGLOSS. 



A small European and north Asiatic genus, distinguished from 

 Anchusa by the curved tube of the corolla. The species are all an- 

 nuals, with small flowers. 



1. L. arvensis, Linn. (fig. 706). Small B.—A coarse, spreading 



