Family: Boraginaceae,
Borage
Genus: Asperugo
Description
General: annual, stems weak, scrambling-climbing, 30-120
cm long, hairless except for the short, backward-directed
prickles along the angles on the stem.
 Leaves: alternate, thin, rough-stiff-hairy and irregularly
bristly-hairy on the edges, the lower oblanceolate, stalked,
rarely as much as 10 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, often
withering, the others gradually reduced, often becoming
more elliptic and almost stalkless.
 Flowers: blue, on short, stout, curved back stalks in or
near the axils of the leaves or bracts, and in the forks of the
branches. Calyx 5-lobed to about the middle, each lobe with
a smaller tooth on each side near the base. Corolla 2-3 mm
long and wide, broadly bell-shaped, with well-developed
fornices, the anthers included.
Flowering time: May-July.
 Fruits: fruiting calyx strongly enlarged, 1-2 cm wide,
compressed, firmly paper-textured, strongly net-veined and
shortly prickly with curved or hooked hairs. The 4 nutlets
2.5 mm long, enveloped by the calyx.
Distribution
A weed in fields and disturbed sites, usually in fairly moist
soil, in most parts of MT. Native of Eurasia, now found here
and there over much of n. U.S. |
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