Borago
(derivation very uncertain; probably a corruption of some eastern name). Borage. ORD. Boragineae. A genus of hardy herbaceous perennials or annuals, excellently adapted for naturalising in dry stony places. Flowers blue, panicled, drooping; corolla rotate; throat furnished with emarginate vaulted processes; anthers distinct, oblong or lanceolate, awned, fixed by the inner side, conniving into a cone. Nuts four, one-celled, turbinate, fixed to the bottom of the calyx. Leaves oblong or lanceolate. All the species are easily cultivated, thriving in any common soil. Propagated by divisions, in spring, or by striking the young cuttings in a cold frame. They may also be raised from seed, which should be sown from March to May, in any good garden soil, and the plants, when large enough, thinned out to 1ft. or more apart. In hot weather, Borage is generally in demand for claret cup and other drinks. B. laxiflora (loose-flowered).* fl. on long pedicels, racemose, drooping; corolla pale blue; segments ovate, bluntish, erectly spreading. May to August. l. oblong, and rough from strigae; radical ones rosulate; cauline ones half stem-clasping. Stem decumbent, many from the same root, hispid from retrograde bristles. Corsica, 1813. Perennial. (B. M. 1789.) B. longifolia (long-leaved).* fl. disposed in a terminal bracteate panicle; corolla blue; segments ovate, acute, spreading. July and August. l. linear-lanceolate, scabrous and downy beneath; cauline ones half stem-clasping. h. 1ft. Numidia, 1825.
B. officinalis (officinal).* Common Borage. fl. blue, purple, or white; segments of the corolla limb ovate, acute, spreading. June to September. l., lower ones obovate, attenuated at the base; cauline ones oblong, sessile, subcordate at the base. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Britain. This is the kind most cultivated in gardens for flavouring. (Sy. En. B. 36.)