Cuscuta. | CONVOLVULACEAE. 745 
South American C. racemosa Martius, a species which was introduced into Europe many 
years ago and caused much damage to crops of lucerne. It subsequently appeared 
in fields of lucerne in California. Mr. Kirk (Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx (1888) 182) records 
the occurrence of the same plant (under the synonym of C. hassiaca, Pfeiff.) in lucerne- 
fields in Canterbury, but there are no specimens in his herbarium. | +. | AS dh 
C. novae-zealandiae 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx (1888) 1838 (name only).— 
After a careful examination of the type specimens in Mr. Kirk’s herbarium I have no 
hesitation in referring this to the northern C. epithymum Linn., which has been observed 
in many localities in the Dominion, and which often associates itself with the indigen- 
ous vegetation. 
Family LXAXXIX. BORAGINACEAE. 
Annual or perennial herbs or more rarely trees or shrubs, usually 
rough with coarse hairs. Leaves alternate, seldom opposite, simple, entire 
or toothed; stipules wanting. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite, usually 
arranged in one-sided simple or forked gyrate spikes or racemes (in reality 
scorpioid cymes), rarely solitary. Calyx infericr, 5-lobed or -partite, per- 
sistent. Corolla gamopetalous, hypogynous; throat often closed with 
hairs or scales; lobes usually 5, seldom 4, imbricate. Stamens the same 
number as the lobes of the corolla and alternate with them, inserted on 
the tube or throat of the corolla; anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise. 
Ovary superior, deeply 4-lobed and 4-celled in the majority of the species 
and in all those found in New Zealand, sometimes entire or 2-lobed ; style 
from between the ovary-lobes or terminal : stigma capitate or 2- lobed ; 
ovules solitary in each cell, ascending. Fruit usually composed of 4 
indehiscent nutlets or pyrenes, rarely drupaceous. Seed erect or oblique, 
testa membranous; albumen copious or scanty or wanting; embryo 
straight or curved, radicle superior. | 
A large and widely distributed family, found in all parts of the world, the herba- 
ceous genera most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in south Europe 
and the Levant; the shrubby and arborescent ones mainly tropical. Genera about 
85; species estimated at 1600. The properties of the family are unimportant. Some 
of the species are mucilaginous and emollient, and have been used in medicine. The 
roots of others, such as Anchusa (alkanet), yield a red dye. The heliotrope, forget- 
me-not, and many others are cultivated for ornament. Of the three indigenous 
genera, Myosotis has a wide range in temperate climates; the remaining two are 
endemic. ; - 
* Calyx and corolla 5-lobed. 
Leaves alternate. Racemes bractless. Nuts small, smooth and 
polished, on a flat receptacle ne . 1. Myosoris. 
Leaves chiefly radical, large and broad. Nuts large, with broad 
wings, attached to a central conical receptacle ws .. 2. Myosorrpium. 
** Calyx and corolla 4-lobed. 
Small intricately branched herb. Leaves opposite .. .- 93. TETRACHONDRA, 
1. MYOSOTIS Linn. 1725 
Annual or perennial herbs, usually more or less hispid. Leaves alter- 
nate, entire, radical petioled, cauline sessile. Flowers small, blue or white 
or yellow, in scorpioid simple or branched racemes destitute of bracts, 
or in the axils of the upper leaves, farely solitary and terminal. Calyx 
5-lobed or -partite; lobes narrow, hardly altered in fruit. Corolla with 
a cylindrical tube partly closed with 5 small scales in the throat ; limb 
oe 
