BOR 
BO’RAGF. and BORAGINOI'DES. See Bor ago. 
BORA'GO, Borage,/ [qu. corago, from cor and ago ; 
on. account of'its Iuppofed cordial qualities.] In botany, a 
genus of the clafs pentandria, order monogynia, natural 
order afperifolias. The generic characters are—Calyx: 
perianthium five-parted, permanent. Corolla: monope- 
talous, rotate, length of the calyx; tube fliorter than the 
calyx; border five-parted, rotate, flat; throat crowned 
with five emarginate obtule prominences. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments five, fubulate, converging; anthera oblong, fixed 
to the infide of the filaments in the middle, converging. 
Pifiillum : germs four; llyle filiform, longer than the fta- 
mens: ftigma Ample. Pericarpium : none ; calyx larger, 
inflated. Seeds: four, roundiih, wrinkled, keeled outwards 
at the top, globular at the bale, infected longitudinally 
into a hollowed receptacle.'— Ejfcntial Char after. Corolla 
rotated, throat doled with rays. 
Species, i. Borago officinalis, or common borage: all 
the leaves alternate, calyxes fpreading. The whole plant is 
.rough, with white llitf prickly hairs. It is a biennial plant, 
flowering from May to Auguft. It came originally from 
Aleppo, but is now naturalized in moll parts of Europe. 
We have it in England on dunghills and heaps of rubbilh 
frequently. Borage was formerly in great requeft, being 
reckoned one of the four cordial flowers: “ Very light, 
l’urely,” lays an ingenious author, <s were thofe iorrows 
that could be fo driven away.” Yet borage flowers are at 
lea ft innocent, which is more than can be laid of many 
other general remedies for care. The whole herb is fuc- 
culent and very mucilaginous, having a peculiar faint fmell 
when bruited. The juice affords a true nitre. The plant 
is now feldom taken inwardly, except as an ingredient in 
cool tankards. The young tender leaves maybe ufed in fal- 
lads, or as a pot-herb. 
z. Borago Indica, or Indian borage : leaves of the rami¬ 
fications oppofite, ftem-clafping; peduncles one-flowered. 
This is an annual plant, rarely riling a foot high. It is 
a native of the Eaft Indies;. Miller, who cultivated it 
in 1759, fays Africa. 
3. Borago Africana, or African borage: leaves oppofite, 
petiolate, ovate ; peduncles manv-flowered. This relembles 
the foregoing, but the whole plant is ftronger and higher. 
Native of the Cape of Good Hope. Annual. 
4. Borago Zeylanica, or Ceylon borage: branch-leaves 
alternate, felfile ; peduncles one-flowered ; calyxes earlefs. 
This dilfers from the firft and third forts, in having one- 
flowered peduncles; from the i’econd, in the leaves not being 
ftem-clafping, and the calyxes not Ipurrpd. Native of the 
Eaft Indies. 
5. Borago orientalis, or oriental borage: calyxes fliorter 
than the tube of the corolla; leaves cordate. This is a 
perennial plant, with thick flelhy roots, fpreading under 
the furface. Root-leaves many, oblong, heart-lhaped, on 
long hairy foot-llalks. Flower-ftem more than two feet 
high, having at the joints a Angle, fmall, felfile, leaf; the 
upper part branches out into feveral fmall foot-ftalks, 
which are terminated by loole panicles of flowers, of a pale 
blue colour; the petal is turned, back, fo that the con¬ 
nected anthers and Ityle are left naked. The feeds are 
fmallcr than thofe of common borage. It flowers in March, 
and the feeds ripen in May. When the flower-ftalk firft 
appears, the flowers feem collected into a dole fpike, feme 
of which often fpread open before the ftalk is fix inches high ; 
but, as the ftalks advance, they are divided into loofe Ipikes. 
Native of the country about Conftantinople. 
Propagation and Culture. The firft lpecies, if permitted" 
to feat ter its feeds, will come up in plenty without care; 
the feeds may alio be l'own either in lpring or autumn, but 
the latter fealon is preferable, on a ipot of open ground 
where the plants arc defigned to remain: when the plants 
have obtained a little ftrength, the ground Ihould be hoed 
to deftroy the weeds, and the plants mud be cut up where 
they are too near each other, leaving them eight or ten 
inches alunder. After this they will require no farther 
care, unlefs the weeds Ihould come up again; then the 
You. Ill, No. 126. 
BOR 2 o 9 
ground Ihould be a fccond time hoed over to deftroy them, 
which, if well performed, and in dry weather, will clear 
the ground from weeds, fo it will require no more clean¬ 
ing till the borage is decayed. The plants which are 
railed in the autumn will flower in May; but thofe which 
are railed in the lpring will not flower till June ; fo that, 
where a continuation of the flowers is required, there 
fliould be a lecond lowing in the fpring, about a month 
after the firft; but this ihould be on a lhady border, and, 
if the feafon Ihould prove dry, the ground muft be watered 
frequently, to bring up the plants ; this latter fowing will 
continue flowering till the end of fummer. 
The feeds of the fecond, third, and fourth, forts, fliould 
be l'own upon a htot-bed in March; and, when the plants 
are ftrong enough to be removed, they fliould be each 
planted in a fmall pot filled with light earth, and plunged 
into a new hot-bed to bring them forward, otherwife they 
will not perfeft their feeds in this country ; but in hot wea¬ 
ther they muft have a great ihare of air, otherwife they will 
draw up weak, and fall before the feeds are ripe. 
The fifth fort is eafily propagated bv the root, which may 
be parted in autumn ; it fliould have a dry foil, and a warm 
fituation ; for, as the flower-ftalks appear early in the fpring, 
when they are much expofed they are often killed by the 
froft : if it be planted in dry rubbilh, it will grow too luxu¬ 
riant, nor be in danger of fullering by froft. Some of the 
feeds of this have l’cattered into the joints of an old wall in 
the Chellea garden, where the plants have grown without 
care fome years, and are never injured by cold or heat. See 
Cynogi.ossum. 
BO'RAK,/ Among the Mahometans, a fabulous kind of 
animal, between an afs and a mule, whereon their prophet 
was Iuppofed to be carried in his nodlurnal flight from Jeru- 
lalem into the heavens. This animal the Arabians call al- 
borak, q. d. Alining. The night when the journey was per¬ 
formed is called lailat al meeraga, i. e. the night of afeen- 
fion ; and the flight itfelf al mefra; concerning which there 
are a multitude of contradictory traditions. 
BO'RAMEZ, f. The Scythian lamb, generally known 
by the name of Agnus Scytkicus. —Much wonder is made of 
the boramez, that ltrange plant-animal, or vegetable lamb, 
ot Tartary, which wolves delight to feed on ; which hath the 
lhape of a lamb, affordeth a bloody juice upon breaking, and 
liveth while the plants be conlumed about it. Brown. See 
Scythian Lamb. 
BORAS'SUS FLABELLIFOR'MIS, or Palmaira- 
Tree ; [derivation uncertain.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs dioecia, order hexandria. There is but one lpecies. 
The root confifts of innumerable, long, tough, very ftrong, 
fibres, about the thicknels of the little finger. Trunk 
ereft, generally from thirty to fifty feet high, though fome- 
times it attains the height of one hundred feet. It is every¬ 
where marked with the hard black cicatrices of the fallen 
leaves. Fronds (leaves) lurround the top of the tree, 
fitiped (petioled,) round, compolcd of a great number of 
folded lincar-lanced divifions, which continue united about 
half way; from two to five feet each way. Stipes, llcm- 
clafping, convex on the under fide, and concave above ; mar¬ 
gins armed with a Iharp, very hard, lacerated, edge; from 
two to four feet long. 
Male flowers.—Spathc univerfal, compofed of many 
(ten to fourteen) imbricated fmallcr fpathes, each vagi- 
nated at the bale, but loon fplitting in a long, concave, 
pointed, boat-like, ftieath; in lubftance very ftrong, and 
fibrous: when young, they are covered with a foft, 
downy, ruft-coloured, lubftance; fometimes, in the lower 
axils of the (heaths, there is a bundle of lmaller lheaths, 
forming a Ipathe like that now delcribed, but without - 
fpadix. The luperior four or leven lheaths embrace each 
ramification of the fpadix, each ramification ending in two 
or three cylindric bowing aments, moft beautifully imbri¬ 
cated with innumerable lcales. Scales broad, wedge-form, 
retufe, adhering by their lateral margins to : the keel or 
back of the next above, (when the ament (lands crcdt,) 
forming a cavity for a falcicle of about ten or twelve fmall, 
3 H yellow, 
