Common Name: BORAGE or WATERLEAF FAMILY Habit: Annual to shrub or small tree, or non-green root parasite, often bristly or sharp-hairy. Stem: prostrate to erect. Leaf: basal and/or cauline, generally simple, generally alternate. Inflorescence: generally cymes, or panicle-, raceme-, head-, or spike-like, generally coiled in flower (often described as scorpioid), generally elongating in fruit, or flowers 1--2 per axil. Flower: bisexual, generally radial; sepals (4)5(10), fused at least at base, or free; corolla (4)5(10)-lobed, salverform, funnel-shaped, rotate, or bell-shaped, generally without scales at tube base, with 0 or 5 appendages at tube top, alternate stamens; stamens epipetalous; ovary generally superior, entire to 4-lobed, style 1(2), entire or 2-lobed or -branched. Fruit: valvate or circumscissile capsule or nutlets 1--4, free (fused), smooth to roughened, prickly or bristly or not. Genera In Family: +- 120 genera, +- 2300 species: tropics, temperate, especially western North America, Mediterranean; some cultivated (Borago, Heliotropium, Echium, Myosotis, Nemophila, Phacelia, Symphytum, Wigandia). Toxicity: Many genera may be TOXIC from pyrrolizidine alkaloids or accumulated nitrates. Note: Recently treated to include Hydrophyllaceae, Lennoaceae. Wigandia urens added, as naturalized. eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald B. Kelley, Robert Patterson, Richard R. Halse & Timothy C. Messick, family description, key to genera, treatment of genera by Ronald B. Kelley, except as noted Scientific Editor: Ronald B. Kelley, Robert Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin, David J. Keil.
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. Species In Genus: 3 species: California, Arizona, Baja California. Etymology: (Greek: scale mouth) eFlora Treatment Author: Robert Patterson & Richard R. Halse Unabridged Reference: Constance 1939 Bull Torrey Bot Club 66:341--352
Pholistoma membranaceum (Benth.) Constance
NATIVE Stem: 5--90 cm, generally glaucous. Leaf: petiole narrow-winged, not clasping; lower leaves 2--13 cm, 1--8 cm wide, blade oblong to ovate, base cordate or truncate, tip obtuse, lobes 5--11, oblong, obtuse, entire or 1-toothed. Inflorescence: flowers generally 2--10 in cymes; pedicel 5--20 mm. Flower: calyx lobes 1--3 mm, oblong, sinus appendages 0; corolla 3--6 mm, < 10 mm wide, white, lobe generally with purple spot; style 1--3 mm. Fruit: 2--4 mm wide, not enclosed in calyx. Seed: 1--2. Chromosomes: n=9. Ecology: Beaches, bluffs, ravines, wooded slopes, desert washes; Elevation: 40--1400 m. Bioregional Distribution: c&s SNF, Teh, SnJV, CW, SW, D; Distribution Outside California: Baja California. Flowering Time: Feb--May Jepson eFlora Author: Robert Patterson & Richard R. Halse Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Pholistoma auritum var. auritum Next taxon: Pholistoma racemosum
Botanical illustration including Pholistoma membranaceum
Citation for this treatment: Robert Patterson & Richard R. Halse 2012, Pholistoma membranaceum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=37886, accessed on January 17, 2021.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2021, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on January 17, 2021.
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Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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