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Anchusa gmelini

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Boraginaceae

Herbs perennial , biennial, or annual , less often lianas, shrubs , or trees , usually bristly or scabrous-pubescent. Leaves simple , exstipulate , alternate, rarely opposite, entire or serrate at margin . Inflorescences often double scorpioid cymes, rarely solitary; bracts present or absent. Flowers bisexual , actinomorphic , rarely zygomorphic. Calyx usually 5-parted or lobed , mostly persistent . Corolla tubular , campanulate , rotate, funnelform , or salverform ; tube appendages 5, rarely more, mostly trapeziform, rarely absent, sometimes a ring of hairs present; limb usually 5-parted; lobes overlapping, rarely twisted in bud. Stamens 5, inserted on corolla tube or rarely at throat , included or rarely exserted; anthers introrse , 2-loculed, usually dorsifixed at base , less often medifixed , dehiscence longitudinal . Nectaries at base of corolla tube or on disc below ovary. Ovary superior, 2-carpellate; locules 2 and each with 2 ovules, or 4 and each with 1 ovule; ovules nearly atropous , semianatropous, or anatropous . Style terminal or gynobasic , branched or not. Gynobase flat, fastigiate , or subulate . Fruit 1-4-seeded drupes or nutlets (mericarps) ; nutlets mostly dry, often ornamented with wings , prickles and/or glochids (stiff bristles with barbed or anchorlike tips ) . Seeds vertical or oblique , coat membranous; embryo straight, less often curved ; cotyledons flat, fleshy .

About 156 genera and 2500 species: temperate and tropical regions , centered in the Mediterranean region; 47 genera and 294 species in China, of which four genera and 156 species are endemic.[1]

Genus Anchusa

Herbs annual or perennial , sparsely strigose or hispid , rarely soft appressed pubescent . Stems erect or spreading . Leaves alternate. Cymes terminal , widely spaced in fruit, scorpioid; bracts lanceolate. Calyx 5-parted nearly to base or less; lobes equal or unequal, linear to triangular, often slightly enlarged in fruit. Corolla blue-purple or yellowish, regular or slightly zygomorphic; tube usually longer than calyx, straight or arcuate or geniculate curved ; throat appendages scaly or tuberculate and short pubescent; limb campanulate ; lobes 5, equal or unequal, apex obtuse . Stamens inserted at or below middle of corolla tube, included ; filaments short, filiform ; anthers ovate-oblong, apex obtuse. Ovary 4-divided. Style included in corolla tube; stigma capitate, 2-cleft. Gynobase flat. Nutlets straight, reniform , or oblique-ovoid, reticulate-wrinkled; attachment scar at or near base, margin ringlike, thickened, hardened.

About 50 species: N Africa, C and W Asia, Europe; one species in China.[2]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Ledeb. ex Spreng. Publication : Syst. i. 562

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Anchusa

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 11 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. arvensis (Annual Bugloss) · A. azurea (Italian Alkanet) · A. azurea 'Dropmore' (Italian Alkanet) · A. azurea 'Feltham Pride' (Italian Alkanet) · A. azurea 'Loddon Royalist' (Italian Alkanet) · A. barrelieri (Barrelier's Bugloss) · A. capensis (Cape Bugloss) · A. capensis 'Blue Angel' (Summer Forget-Me-Not) · A. officinalis (Alkanet) · A. tinctoria (Alkanet) · A. undulata (Undulate Alkanet)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Gelin Zhu, Harald Riedl & Rudolf V. Kamelin "Boraginaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 329. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Anchusa". in Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 358. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/20/2012