Echinospermum
(from echinos, a hedgehog, and sperma, a seed; referring to the prickly bur). SYNS. Lappula and Rochelia. ORD. Boragineoe. A genus containing about fifty species of annual, biennial, or perennial, hispid or pubescent herbs, very few of which are in cultivation. Flowers blue or whitish, usually small, racemose or spicate. Leaves alternate, often narrow. The species are most abundant in the temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere. For culture, see Myosotis.
E. diffusum (diffuse). fl., corolla bright blue; racemes commonly loose and spreading. fr. a globose bur. i. oblong-lanceolate, or the lowest spathulate, narrowed at base into long wing-margined petioles; the upper sessile, from oblong lanceolate to ovate or cordate, passing into small bracts. h. 1ft. California. Perennial. SYN. E. nervosum.
E. Lappula (Little Bur). This species has all the appearance and the small flowers of a Myosotis, but with very rough triangular nuts. South Europe. Annual. It has been occasionally found in isolated localities in England, where it, no doubt, was accidentally introduced.
E. marginatum macranthum (large-flowered, margined). fl. pale blue, Myosotis-like; racemes many flowered. l. lanceolate, rough. Stems erect. Russia. Biennial. (R. G. 1119.) E. nervosum (nerved). A synonym of E. diffusum.
E. virginicum (Virginian). fl., corolla slightly surpassing the calyx, pale blue or white. fr. globular, armed all over with short prickles. l., radical ones round, ovate or cordate, slender, petioled; cauline ones ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate at both ends; uppermost passing into lanceolate bracts. Stem 2ft. to 4ft. high, erect, with long and widely spreading branches. Canada to Louisiana. Annual. SYN. Myosotis virginica.