Mertensia. | LIIl, BORAGINEA. 311 
America, at high latitudes, and descending along the coasts of Scotland to 
Berwick, North Wales, and Ireland, Fl, spring and early summer. 
IV. LITHOSPERMUM. LITHOSPERM. 
Annuals, perennials, or, in some exotic species, undershrubs, more or 
less hairy; with leafy stems, and blue or whitish flowers, in leafy cymes or 
one-sided spikes, Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla with a straight tube, not 
closed by scales, and a spreading, shortly 5-lobed limb. Stamens included 
within the tube. Nuts very hard and stony, 
A considerable genus, widely spread over Europe and northern Asia, 
although most of the species belong to the Mediterranean region, 
Flowers small, white, or pale yellow. Stems erect, 
Stock perennial. Nuts sepetliy é ° . ° . 2. L. officinale, 
Annual. Nuts wrinkled . » Ll. ZL. arvense. 
Flowers showy, of a iene blue. Stems long and strag- 
gling . 5 > ° A ; ° ° - 3& DL. purpureo-ceruleum, 
1, L. arvense, ae (fig. 694). Corn 'Lithosperm, Corn Gromwell, 
Bastard Alkanet.—An erect, usually branchcd annual, about a foot high, 
and more or less hoary with appressed hairs. Leaves narrow-lanceolate, or 
nearly linear. Flowers small and white, sessile, in leafy terminal cymes ; 
the segments of the calyx nearly as long as the corolla. Nuts shorter than 
the calyx, conical, very hard, and deeply wrinkled. 
In cultivated and waste places, in Europe and western and central Asia, 
not extending to the Arctic regions, but carried out as a cornfield weed to 
various parts of the world, Rather frequent in Britain, Fl. spring and 
summer, 
2, i. officinale, Linn. (fig. 695). Common Lithosperm, Gromwell.— 
Stock perennial, with a stouter and taller stem than that of ZL. arvense, 
which this species otherwise much resembles. Flowers rather smaller, of a 
yellowish white; the calyx shorter in proportion. Nuts hard and white, 
very smooth and shining, without any wrinkles unless dried before they are 
ripe, 
In waste places, on roadsides, etc., diffused over the whole of Europe 
and Russian Asia, except the extreme north, and established in many parts 
of North America. Common in England and Ireland, but rare in Scotland. 
Fl. spring and summer. | 
3. G. purpureo-czruleum, Linn, (fig. 696). Creeping Lithosperm. 
—Stock perennial, with procumbent, leafy stems, often 2 feet long or more, 
and shorter ascending or nearly erect flowering stems, ending in a leafy 
forked cyme. Leaves lanceolate and hairy. Flowers nearly sessile, of a 
rich blue, rather large, but usually shorter than the leaves; the calyx 
segments narrow. Nuts smooth and shining. 
In thickets and open woods, in central and southern Europe, from the 
Atlantic to the Caucasus, Rare in Britain, and only in Wales and some 
of the southern counties of England. Fl. summer. 
V. MYOSOTIS. MYOSOTE. 
Annual or perennial, low or rather weak herbs, with oblong or linear 
stem-leaves; the radical ones broader, shorter, and stalked; the flowers 
