BORAGINACEAE

BORAGE FAMILY

Annual, perennial herb, shrubs, generally bristly or sharply hairy
Stem prostrate to erect
Leaves cauline, often with basal rosette, generally simple, alternate; lower sometimes opposite, entire
Inflorescence: cyme, generally elongate, panicle-, raceme- or spike-like, coiled in flower, generally uncoiled in fruit or flowers 1–2 per axil
Flowers generally bisexual, generally radial; sepals 5, free or fused in lower half; corolla 5-lobed, generally salverform, top of tube generally appendaged, appendages 5, alternating with stamens, sometimes arching over tube; stamens 5, epipetalous; ovary superior, generally 4-lobed, style generally entire
Fruit: nutlets 1–4, smooth to variously roughened, sometimes prickly or bristled
Genera in family: ± 100 genera, ± 2000 species: tropical, temp, especially w North America, Medit; some cultivated (Borago, Echium, Myosotis, Symphytum ). Almost all genera may be TOXIC from alkaloids or accumulated nitrates
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include Hydrophyllaceae [Olmsted et al. 2000 Mol Phylog Evol 16:96–112]
Family description, key to genera by Timothy C. Messick.

PECTOCARYA

Timothy C. Messick and Barbara Veno

Annual
Stem 2–40 cm, strigose, breaking apart at nodes or not
Leaves generally alternate, generally 0.5–4 cm, ± linear, strigose to sharp-bristled
Inflorescence: pedicel in fruit generally free from nutlets, generally recurved
Flower: sepals generally < fruit, upper 2 in fruit generally > others; corolla 0.8–3 mm, white; style attached to receptacle, unbranched, generally persistent, stigma 1, head-like
Fruit: nutlets generally 4, spreading, 1–4.5 mm, generally paired, generally compressed, marginal prickles hooked at tip, not barbed; nutlet pairs or all 4 often dissimilar in shape, ornamentation, margin width
Species in genus: 15 species: CA to B.C., WY, TX, n Mex; also South America
Etymology: (Greek: comb nut, from dentate nutlet margins in some species)
Reference: [Veno 1979 PhD dissertation UCLA]
Horticultural information: STBL.

Native

P. penicillata (Hook. & Arn.) A. DC.

Stem prostrate to decumbent, 2–25 cm
Inflorescence: pedicel in fruit ascending, 1.3–2.5 mm
Fruit: nutlets straight, 1.1–3.3 mm, oblanceolate; margins erect to incurved, ± entire, all in a flower ± equal in width, bristled only above ± middle
Chromosomes: n=12
Ecology: Disturbed sites, roadsides in many communities
Elevation: 90–2100 m.
Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province, White and Inyo Mountains, Desert
Distribution outside California: to British Columbia, Wyoming, Arizona, n Baja California
Flowering time: Mar–May
Plants with margins of 1–2 nutlets narrower than others in same flower, bristles from nutlet base to tip, n=24, may be distinct sp.