Part 37

On constantly dripping ledges of wet rocks, rare in the region generally but rather frequent about Lake Louise and Lake O’Hara; flowering during July.

BORAGINACEÆ

Borage Family

Herbs with alternate or rarely opposite, entire, leaves and usually rough hairy stems. Flowers perfect, regular, mostly blue, in 1-sided curled spikes; corolla 5-lobed, stamens as many as the corolla lobes and alternate with them; fruit mostly of 4 1-seeded nutlets.

Nutlets armed with barbed prickles. =Lappula.= Nutlets not armed with barbed prickles. Racemes without bracts; corolla flat, round. =Myosotis.= Racemes with bracts; corolla funnel-form. =Lithospermum.=

Rough hairy, stem stout, paniculately branched, 2—5 feet high, the branches nearly erect. Leaves oblong, oblong-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 2—4 inches long, sessile, obtuse or acute at the apex, the lower narrowed into long petioles. Flowers 5-lobed, bright blue with a yellow centre ⅛ to nearly ⅓ of an inch broad in numerous erect, dense racemes, nutlets ⅙ of an inch long, keeled tuberculate on the back, the margins armed with a single row of flat barbed prickles, on pedicels less than their own length.

In moist, open ground, frequent throughout the Rockies; a striking plant with heads of bright blue flowers, resembling large forget-me-nots flowering in June.

Similar to the preceding species, but not so tall and with broader acute leaves. Flowers larger, ½ an inch broad, not so numerous; and larger, more densely prickled nutlets, ¼ of an inch long, on pedicels more than their own length.

Throughout the Rockies, probably more common than the previous species, in moist, more or less shaded or open ground; flowering in June.

Pale, leafy, rough, 1—2 feet high, the branches erect. Leaves linear and linear-oblong, sessile or the lowest spatulate and narrowed into petioles ½—1½ inches long, obtuse. Flowers very small, about the length of the calyx, blue, in one-sided leafy-bracted racemes; nutlets papillose on the back, armed with 2 rows of slender barbed prickles.

In open or waste ground throughout the region, especially on or near the railway; flowering throughout the summer.

b Lithospermum linearifolium Goldie. (⅔ Nat.) Narrow-Leaved Puccoon.]

Stems tufted, erect, 3—9 inches high. Leaves oblong, linear, or lanceolate, hairy, 1—2 inches long. Flowers in rather dense heads; corolla flat, bright blue with a yellow centre ¼ of an inch or more broad, 5-lobed.

Frequent throughout the Rockies in alpine meadows and on grassy slopes; flowering during June and early July.

Erect or diffusely branched from the base, 6—12 inches high, minutely rough-hairy. Leaves all linear, sessile, acute, 1—2 inches long. Flowers of two kinds, leafy-bracted, at the ends of the branches, the earlier bright yellow, ½ an inch broad with a tube an inch or more long, the rounded lobes crenately erose; the later flowers small, inconspicuous and pale.

Dry sandy soil in the valley of the Bow River at Banff, the showy flowers in May and early June.

MENTHACEÆ

Mint Family

Aromatic herbs mostly with 4-sided stems and simple opposite leaves; flowers irregular, perfect, clustered, the inflorescence typically cymose; calyx persistent, 5-toothed or lobed; corolla with a short or long tube, the limb 4—5-lobed, mostly 2-lipped, but some regular; stamens borne on the corolla tube, typically 4.

Calyx with a protuberance on the upper side. Corolla 2-lipped, the upper arched, tube long, blue. =Scutellaria.= Calyx without a protuberance on the upper side. Corolla tube longer than the calyx; flower 2-lipped purple. =Prunella.= Corolla tube not longer than the calyx; flower 2-lipped, pink. =Stachys.= Corolla tube shorter than the calyx; nearly regular, 4-lobed. =Mentha.=

Perennial by slender stolons, leafy; stem erect, usually branched, 1—2 feet high. Leaves oblong-lanceolate to ovate-oblong, thin, short petioled or the upper sessile, acute at the apex, dentate with low teeth or the upper entire, subcordate or rounded at the base, 1—2½ inches long, the uppermost usually much smaller. Flowers an inch long, bright blue with a slender tube and slightly enlarged throat, solitary in the axils of the leaves, on peduncles shorter than the calyx.

In swamps and wet places, frequent along the railway from Field west to Beavermouth.

Hairy or nearly smooth; stems slender, creeping or ascending, or erect, usually simple but sometimes considerably branched, 2 inches to 2 feet high. Leaves ovate, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or subacute at the apex, usually narrowed at the base, thin, entire or crenate, 1—4 inches long. Flowers in dense terminal spikes ½—1 inch long, becoming 2—4 inches in fruit; corolla violet-purple, or sometimes pink or white, ¼—½ an inch long, twice as long as the purplish-green calyx.

Common throughout the region in moist, open or shaded places at the lower altitudes, frequently forming clumps of considerable size; flowering throughout the summer.

Erect, usually slender, simple or somewhat branched, hairy throughout; 1—4 feet high. Leaves lanceolate, sessile or very short petioled, acuminate or acute at the apex, wedge-shaped or cordate at the base, 2—5 inches long, ½—1 inch wide, crenulate or dentate, flowers clustered, forming an elongated, interrupted spike, or sometimes in the axils of the upper leaves, 6—10 in a whorl; calyx hairy, its slender teeth more than ½ the length of the tube; corolla deep pink spotted with purple, ½—¾ of an inch long, the upper lip erect, hairy, the lower spreading 3-cleft.

In swamps and wet places throughout the region from Field west to Beavermouth along the railway; flowering during July.

Perennial by runners; stem more or less hairy with spreading hairs, simple or branched, 6 inches to 2½ feet high. Leaves oblong, ovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, slender-stemmed, acute at the apex, sharply serrate, smooth or sparingly hairy, the larger 2—3 inches long, ½—1 inch wide. Flowers numerous, small, ⅛ of an inch long, white, pink or pale purple, all in whorls in the axils of the leaves, the calyx about ⅓ the length of the corolla.

In moist soil and marshy places, frequent along the line of the railway from Field west to Beavermouth; flowering during July.