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: Perennial herb, scapose; taprooted, root caudex-like, rhizomes present or 0. Leaf: simple, in basal rosette, minute- to short-hairy or sometimes glabrous in age, glandular-hairy or not; blade tapered to petiole or leaf sessile, linear-lanceolate to ovate, oblanceolate or elliptic, entire; petiole tapered to blade. Inflorescence: axillary from stem base, flowers 1 (few-flowered cyme in well-established plants); peduncle 2--5 cm, +- ascending to +- erect in flower, to 10+ cm, spreading in fruit, short- to long-hairy or glabrous in age. Flower: calyx lobes unequal in size and shape, enlarged in fruit, outer (2)3 broad, inner 2(3) narrow; corolla rotate or bell-shaped, throat yellow or white, lobes white to lavender, generally marked purple; corolla scales 0 or reduced; nectary glands 0; stamens included, unequal to +- equal, attached at 1 level, filaments widened at base, not appendaged, not winged; ovary chamber appearing 1, style 1, included or +- exserted, shallowly 2-lobed. Fruit: 5--11 mm, ovoid, hairy. Seed: 20--40, ovoid, angled, dark- or red-brown, honeycombed or pitted; attached fleshy structure 0.
Etymology: Greek: evening or western centaur
eFlora Treatment Author: Genevieve K. Walden, Robert W. Patterson & Richard R. Halse