448 
Alkanet  Root, 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X  September,  1897. 
what  sheltered  from  cold  winds,  two  others  being  placed  in  pots  in 
a  cool  greenhouse.  The  soil  used  was  a  mixture  of  grassy  loam 
and  44  hassocks,"3  broken  down  into  sandy  grit  by  frost.  The  two 
specimens  fully  exposed  to  the  sun,  although  covered  during  windy 
days  and  frosty  nights,  succumbed  by  reason  of  the  dryness  of  the 
soil.  Those  exposed  only  to  the  morning  sun  and  sheltered  by 
stones  and  herbage  from  cold  winds  progressed  slowly,  but  ulti- 
mately flowered  freely,  vigorous  growth  occurring  only  as  the  air 
became  warmer.  Those  in  the  greenhouse  quickly  made  a  start  and 
flowered  before  those  in  the  open  ground  had  made  flowering  shoots, 
lhe  crown  of  the  root  sends  up  several  slender  leafy  shoots,  which 
are  at  first  prostrate  or  decumbent,  but  become  gradually  ascending? 
and  when  elongated  and  in  flower,  they  are  nearly  erect  from  a 
decumbent  base.  Besides  these  there  are  at  the  same  time  a  few 
shoots  which  do  not  develop  flowers. 
The  plants  evidently  require  a  warmer  atmosphere  than  is  usual  in 
an  English  spring,  and  will  not  thrive  in  the  open  air  except  in  shel- 
tered warm  situations.  The  flowers  are  about  the  size  of  those  of 
Anchusa  sempervirens,  but  of  a  more  beautiful  ultramarine  blue 
color.  They  have  no  scales  in  the  throat  of  the  corolla,  differing 
in  this  particular  from  the  genus  Anchusa,  but  the  tube  of  the 
corolla  has,  on  the  external  surface,  two  rows  of  indentations,  which 
cause  a  slight  bulging  of  the  corolla  between  the  brown  anthers. 
These  have  very  short  filaments,  three  of  the  anthers  being  situated 
above  the  upper  row  of  indentations,  and  two  above  the  lower  row, 
and  the  throat  of  the  corolla  is  lined  with  minute  glandular  hairs. 
The  stigma  in  the  flowers  1  have  examined  is  on  a  level  with  the 
two  lower  stamens.  This  may  possibly  be  an  arrangement  to  pro- 
vide self-fertilization  in  case  the  flowers  are  not  cross-fertilized,  or  it 
may  be  a  special  adaptation  to  direct  a  particular  insect  to  the 
honey  which  lines  the  corolla  tube.  The  leaves  are  of  a  slightly 
grayish-green  tint  and  are  covered  with  hispid  hairs  and  very  short 
stalked  glands,  the  latter  being  visible  only  under  a  good  lens.  The 
accompanying  figure  represents  the  plant  of  one-third  the  natural 
size,  as  grown  in  a  pot  in  this  country,  though  possibly  smaller  than 
the  wild  plant  as  occurring  in  the  warmer  climate  of  Montpellier. 
3  "  Hassocks  "  is  a  local  name  for  the  soft  layers  of  stone  found  between  layers 
of  Kentish  ragstone  in  the  green  sand  formation,  but  which,  unlike  the  rag- 
stone,  split  up  and  become  pulverized  by  the  action  of  frost,  forming  excellent 
soil  for  rockeries. 
