The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States - Part 121
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Part 121

2. CYNOGLoSSUM, Tourn. HOUND'S-TONGUE.

Corolla funnel-form, the tube about equalling the 5-parted calyx, and throat closed with 5 obtuse scales; lobes rounded. Stamens included.

Nutlets depressed or convex, oblique, fixed near the apex to the base of the style, roughened all over with short barbed or hooked p.r.i.c.kles.--Coa.r.s.e herbs, with a strong scent and petioled lower leaves; the mostly panicled (so-called) racemes naked above, usually bracted at base. Fl. all summer. (Name from ????, _a dog_, and ???ssa, _tongue_; from the shape and texture of the leaves.)

C. OFFICINaLE, L. (COMMON HOUND'S-TONGUE.) Biennial; _clothed with short soft hairs, leafy_, panicled above; upper leaves lanceolate, closely sessile by a rounded or slightly heart-shaped base; racemes nearly bractless; _corolla reddish-purple_ (rarely white); nutlets flat on the broad upper face, somewhat margined.--Waste ground and pastures; a familiar and troublesome weed; the large nutlets adhering to the fleece of sheep, etc. (Nat. from Eu.)

1. C. Virginic.u.m, L. (WILD COMFREY.) Perennial; _roughish with spreading bristly hairs_; stem simple, _few-leaved_ (2--3 high); stem-leaves lanceolate-oblong, clasping by a deep heart-shaped base; _racemes few and corymbed, raised on long naked peduncles_, bractless; _corolla pale blue_; nutlets strongly convex.--Open woods, Ont. and Sask. to Fla. and La.

3. ECHINOSPeRMUM, Lehm. STICKSEED.

Corolla salver-form, short, imbricated in the bud, the throat closed with 5 short scales. Stamens included. Nutlets erect, fixed laterally to the base of the style or central column, triangular or compressed, the back armed all over or with 1--3 marginal rows of p.r.i.c.kles which are barbed at the apex, otherwise naked.--Rough-hairy and grayish herbs, with small blue to whitish flowers in racemes or spikes; ours annuals or biennials, flowering all summer. (Name compounded of ??????, _a hedgehog_, and sp??a, _seed_.)

[*] _Racemes panicled, leafy-bracteate at base; slender pedicels recurved or deflexed in fruit; calyx-lobes short, at length reflexed; biennial, not hispid._

1. E. Virginic.u.m, Lehm. (BEGGAR'S LICE.) Stem 2--4 high; radical leaves round-ovate or cordate, slender-petioled; cauline (3--8' long) ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, ac.u.minate at both ends; loosely paniculate racemes divaricate; pedicel and flower each a line long; _nutlets of the globose fruit equally short-glochidiate over the whole back_. (Cynoglossum Morisoni, _DC._)--Borders of woods and thickets, N. Eng. to Minn., south to Va. and La.

2. E. deflexum, Lehm., var. Americanum, Gray. Diffusely branched, about 1 high, leaves oblong to lanceolate, racemes lax, loosely paniculate; flowers small; _nutlets of the globular-pyramidal fruit only marginally glochidiate_.--Iowa, Minn., and northward.

3. E. floribundum, Lehm. Rather strict, 2 high or more; leaves oblong- to linear-lanceolate, the lowest tapering into margined petioles; racemes numerous, commonly geminate and in fruit rather strict; corolla larger (blue, sometimes white), 2--3" in diameter; nutlets scabrous and margined with a close row of flat subulate p.r.i.c.kles.--Minn. and Sask., and westward.

[*][*] _Racemes leafy-bracteate, stout pedicels not deflexed; calyx becoming foliaceous; leaves linear, lanceolate, or the lower spatulate; hispid annuals._

E. LaPPULA, Lehm. Erect, 1--2 high, nutlets rough-granulate or tuberculate on the back, the margins with a double row of slender distinct p.r.i.c.kles, or these irregular over most of the back.--Waste and cultivated grounds, from Canada to the Middle Atlantic States. (Nat.

from Eu.)

4. E. Redowskii, Lehm., var. occidentale, Watson. Erect, 1--2 high, at length diffuse; nutlets irregularly and minutely sharp-tuberculate, the margins armed with a single row of stout flattened p.r.i.c.kles sometimes confluent at base.--Minn. to Tex., and westward.

4. KRYNiTZKIA, Fisch. & Meyer.

Calyx 5-parted or deeply cleft, erect or little spreading in fruit.

Corolla short, usually with more or less fornicate throat. Nutlets erect and straight, unarmed, attached to the axis either at inner edge of base or ventrally from the base upward.--Ours are very hispid annuals or biennials, with small white flowers in scorpioid spikes. A large western genus. (Dedicated to _Prof. J. Krynitzki_, of Cracow.)

1. K. cra.s.sisepala, Gray. Annual, diffusely much branched, a span high, very rough-hispid; _leaves oblanceolate and linear-spatulate_; flowers very small, short-pedicelled, mostly bracteate; _lobes of the persistent calyx closed over the fruit, the midrib below becoming much thickened_ and indurated; nutlets ovate, acute, _dissimilar_, 3 of them muricate-granulate and 1 larger and smooth, _attached from the base to the middle_.--Plains, Sask. to Kan., Tex. and N. Mex.

5. MERTeNSIA, Roth. LUNGWORT.

Corolla trumpet-shaped or bell-funnel-shaped, longer than the deeply 5-cleft or 5-parted calyx, naked, or with 5 small glandular folds or appendages in the open throat. Anthers oblong or arrow-shaped. Style long and thread-form. Nutlets ovoid, fleshy when fresh, smooth or wrinkled, obliquely attached next the base by a prominent internal angle, the scar small.--Smooth or soft-hairy perennial herbs, with pale and entire leaves, and handsome purplish-blue (rarely white) flowers, in loose and short panicled or corymbed raceme-like cl.u.s.ters, only the lower one leafy-bracted; pedicels slender. (Named for _Prof. Francis Charles Mertens_, a German botanist.)

[*] _Corolla trumpet-shaped, with spreading nearly entire limb and naked throat; filaments slender, exserted; hypogynous disk 2-lobed._

1. M. Virginica, DC. (VIRGINIAN COWSLIP. LUNGWORT. BLUE BELLS.) Very smooth, pale, erect (1--2 high); leaves obovate, veiny, those at the root (4--6' long) petioled; corolla trumpet-shaped, 1' long, many times exceeding the calyx, rich purple-blue, rarely white; nutlets dull and roughish.--Alluvial banks, N. Y. to Minn., S. C., and Ark. May.

Cultivated for ornament.

[*][*] _Corolla with conspicuously 5-lobed limb, and crested throat._

[+] _Filaments broad and short; nutlets dull, wrinkled or roughish when dry._

2. M. paniculata, Don. Roughish and more or less hairy, erect (1--2 high), loosely branched, _leaves ovate and ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, ribbed, thin_; corolla (6" long) somewhat funnel-form, 3--4 times the length of the lance-linear acute divisions of the calyx, filaments broader and shorter than the anthers.--Sh.o.r.e of L. Superior and north and westward. July and Aug.

3. M. lanceolata, DC. Glabrous or hirsute, pale, 1 high or less, simple or branched, _leaves spatulate-oblong to lanceolate-linear, smaller (1--2' long), nearly veinless, obtuse or acute_; corolla-tube somewhat longer than the lanceolate calyx-lobes; _filaments generally longer than the anthers_.--Dak. to N. Mex. and westward.

[+][+] _Filaments longer and narrower than the anthers; nutlets shining, utricular._

4. M. maritima, Don. (SEA LUNGWORT.) Spreading or dec.u.mbent, smooth, glaucous; leaves fleshy, ovate or obovate or spatulate, the upper surface becoming papillose; corolla white, bell-funnel-form (3" long), twice the length of the calyx.--Sea-coast, on rocks and sand, Cape Cod to Maine and northward; scarce. June--Aug.

6. MYOSTIS, Dill. SCORPION-GRa.s.s. FORGET-ME-NOT.

Corolla salver-form, the tube about the length of the 5-toothed or 5-cleft calyx, the throat with 5 small and blunt arching appendages opposite the rounded lobes; the latter convolute in the bud! Stamens included, on very short filaments. Nutlets smooth, compressed, fixed at the base; the scar minute.--Low and mostly soft-hairy herbs, with entire leaves, those of the stem sessile, and with small flowers in naked racemes, which are entirely bractless, or occasionally with one or two small leaves next the base, prolonged and straightened in fruit.

Flowering through the season. (Name composed of ??, _mouse_, and ???, ?t??, _ear_, in allusion to the aspect of the short and soft leaves in some species; one popular name is MOUSE-EAR.)

[*] _Calyx open in fruit, its hairs appressed, none of them hooked or glandular._

M. PAl.u.s.tRIS, Withering. (TRUE FORGET-ME-NOT.) Perennial; stems ascending from an oblique creeping base (9--20' high), loosely branched, smoothish; leaves rough-p.u.b.escent, oblong-lanceolate or linear-oblong; calyx-lobes much shorter than its tube; limb of corolla 3 or 4 lines broad, sky-blue with a yellow eye.--In wet ground, probably only escaped from cultivation. (Nat. from Eu.)

1. M. laxa, Lehm. Perennial from filiform subterranean shoots; stems very slender, dec.u.mbent; p.u.b.escence all appressed; leaves lanceolate-oblong or somewhat spatulate; calyx-lobes as long as its tube; limb of corolla 2 or 3" broad, paler blue. (M. pal.u.s.tris, var.

laxa, _Gray_.)--In water and wet ground, Newf. to N. Y. (Eu.)

[*][*] _Calyx closing or the lobes erect in fruit, clothed with spreading hairs, some minutely hooked or gland-tipped; corolla small; annual or biennial._

2. M. arvensis, Hoffm. Hirsute with spreading hairs, erect or ascending (6--15' high); leaves oblong-lanceolate, acutish; _racemes naked at the base and stalked_; corolla blue, rarely white; _pedicels spreading in fruit and longer than the 5-cleft equal calyx_.--Fields, etc.; not very common. (Eu.)

3. M. verna, Nutt. Bristly-hirsute, branched from the base, erect (4--12' high); _leaves obtuse_, linear-oblong, or the lower spatulate-oblong; _racemes leafy at the base_; corolla very small, white, with a short limb; _pedicels in fruit erect and appressed_ at the base, usually abruptly bent outward near the apex, _rather shorter than the deeply 5-cleft unequal_ (somewhat 2-lipped) _very hispid calyx_.--Dry ground, rather common. May--July.

M. VERSiCOLOR, Pers. More slender than the last, simple at base; racemes loose, mostly naked at base; _flowers almost sessile; corolla pale yellow changing to blue or violet; calyx deeply and equally 5-cleft_.--Fields, Del. (Nat. from Eu.)

7. LITHOSPeRMUM, Tourn. GROMWELL. PUCc.o.o.n.

Corolla funnel-form, or sometimes salver-shaped; the open throat naked, or with a more or less evident transverse fold or scale-like appendage opposite each lobe; the spreading limb 5-cleft, its lobes rounded.

Anthers oblong, almost sessile, included. Nutlets ovate, smooth or roughened, mostly bony or stony, fixed by the base; scar nearly flat.--Herbs, with thickish and commonly red roots and sessile leaves; flowers solitary and as if axillary, or spiked and leafy-bracted, sometimes dimorphous as to insertion of stamens and length of style.

(Name formed of ?????, _stone_, and sp??a, _seed_, from the hard nutlets.)

-- 1. _Nutlets tubercled or rough-wrinkled and pitted, gray and dull; throat of the (nearly white) corolla dest.i.tute of any evident folds or appendages._

L. ARVeNSE, L. (CORN GROMWELL.) Minutely rough-h.o.a.ry, annual or biennial; stems erect (6--12' high); leaves lanceolate or linear, veinless; corolla scarcely longer than the calyx.--Sandy banks and roadsides. May--Aug. (Nat. from Eu.)

-- 2. _Nutlets smooth and shining, white like ivory; corolla greenish-white or pale-yellow, small, with 5 distinct p.u.b.escent scales in the throat; perennial._

L. OFFICINaLE, L. (COMMON GROMWELL.) Much branched above, erect (1--2 high); _leaves thinnish, broadly lanceolate, acute_, with a few distinct veins, rough above, soft-p.u.b.escent beneath; _corolla exceeding the calyx_.--Roadsides, N. Eng. to Minn. (Nat. from Eu.)

1. L. latiflium, Michx. Stem loosely branched, erect (2--3 high), rough; _leaves ovate and ovate-lanceolate, mostly taper-pointed_ (even the floral ones 2--4' long), _ribbed-veined_, roughish above, finely soft-p.u.b.escent beneath, the root leaves large and rounded; _corolla shorter than the calyx_.--Open ground and borders of woods, W. New York to Minn., south to Va. and Ark.

-- 3. BaTSCHIA. _Nutlets white, smooth and shining; corolla large, salver-form or nearly so, deep orange-yellow, somewhat p.u.b.escent, the tube much exceeding the calyx, and the throat appendaged. (Roots perennial, long and deep, yielding a red dye.)_