578 



THE BORAGE FAMILY. 



A seacoast plant, common in north- 

 ern Europe and Asia and north-west 

 America, at high latitudes, and de- 

 scending along the coasts of Scotland 

 to north-western England, North 

 Wales, and Ireland. Fl. spring and 

 early summer. 



Fig. 688. 



IV. LITHOSPERM LITHOSPERMUM. 



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 smooth 2. Common L. 



Annual. Nuts wrinkled . 1. Corn L. 



Flowers showy, of a bright blue. Stems long and straggling . 3. Creeping L. 



1. Corn Lithosperm. Lithospermum arvense, Linn. 



(Fig. 689.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 123. Corn Gromwell. Bastard Alhanet.) 



An erect, usually branched 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 



