Common Name: WATERLEAF FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, generally hairy, generally taprooted. Stem: prostrate to erect. Leaf: simple to pinnately compound, basal or cauline, alternate or opposite; stipules 0. Inflorescence: cyme, generally raceme-like and coiled, or flowers 1. Flower: bisexual, generally radial; calyx lobes generally 5, generally fused at base, generally persistent, enlarging in fruit; corolla rotate to cylindric, generally deciduous, lobes generally 5, appendages in pairs on tube between filaments or 0; stamens generally 5, epipetalous, filament base sometimes appendaged, appendages scale-like; ovary generally superior, chambers 1 or 2, placentas 2, parietal, enlarged into chamber, sometimes meeting so ovary appears 2--5-chambered, style 1, style branches 2, stigmas generally head-like. Fruit: capsule, generally loculicidal; valves generally 2.
Genera In Family: 12 genera, 240--260 species: especially western US; some cultivated (Emmenanthe, Nemophila, Phacelia). Note: Included in Boraginaceae in TJM2 and some other treatments (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV 2016 Bot J Linn Soc 181:1--20) but treated as separate family (excluding Namaceae) by Boraginales Working Group (Luebert et al. 2016).
eFlora Treatment Author: Genevieve K. Walden, Robert W. Patterson & Richard R. Halse, except as specified
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin

Habit: Annual, fleshy. Stem: prostrate or reclined, many-branched, brittle; angles +- glabrous, bristly, or generally with hooked prickles. Leaf: cauline, lower opposite, upper alternate; petioles generally winged, clasping; blade pinnate-lobed, uppermost reduced, short-petioled, generally deltate, 3-lobed, with small, sharp bristles both surfaces. Inflorescence: terminal, axillary, opposite leaves, or flowers 1; pedicels present. Flower: calyx lobes hairy, bristly-ciliate; corolla rotate, lobes +- = tube, generally hairy; stamens included, equal, equally attached; ovary bristly-hairy, chamber appearing 1, style 1, 2-lobed in distal 1/2. Fruit: capsule, spheric, stout-bristly-hairy. Seed: 1--8, spheric, brown, pitted or honeycombed.
Etymology: (Greek: scale mouth)
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert W. Patterson & Richard R. Halse
Unabridged Reference: Constance 1939 Bull Torrey Bot Club 66:341--352

Stem: 2--12 dm. Leaf: petiole wide-winged, clasping; lower leaves 4--16 cm, 1--8 cm wide, blade oblong to lance-ovate, base cordate, tip acuminate, lobes 5--13, oblong or lanceolate, obtuse or acute, entire or 1--5-toothed. Inflorescence: flowers 1 or 2--6 in cymes; pedicels 1--3 cm. Flower: calyx lobes 3--9 mm, +- lanceolate, sinus appendages 1--4 mm; corolla 3--15 mm, 5--30 mm wide, blue to purple with darker marks in throat; style 4--8 mm. Fruit: 5--10 mm wide, enclosed in calyx. Seed: 1--4.