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Omphalodes (From omphalos the navel)

(from omphalos, the navel, and eidos, resemblance; referring to the shape of the seed). SYN. Picotia. ORD. Boragineae. A genus of very ornamental, hardy, annual or perennial herbs, distinguished from allied genera in having the four nut-like seeds furnished with an inflexed margin, which renders them cup-shaped. There are about ten species, natives of Europe, North Africa, Western and Central Asia, and Japan. Flowers white or bluish, on slender pedicels, rarely all axillary; racemes loose, ebracteate, or with leafy bracts at base. Radical leaves long-stalked, lanceolate, ovate or cordate; stem ones few, alternate. The four species in our gardens are of easy culture in any moderately good soil; they are very suitable for naturalising in woods and shrubberies, where the head-growth is not too dense. Propagated freely by divisions, in the spring; or by seeds, sown at the same season. O. linifolia (Flax-leaved). Venus's Navelwort. fl. white, rarely with a tinge of blue, in bractless racemes. June to August. l., radical ones cuneiform; stem ones linear-lanceolate, glabrous, with denticulated, ciliated margins. Branches terminating in loose racemes. h. 6in. to 12in. South Europe &c., 1748 Annual.

O. Luciliae (Lucilia's).* fl. lilac-blue, nearly 1/2in. in diameter, much larger than those of O. verna. Summer. l. oblong-obtuse, radical ones narrowed into a long footstalk; cauline ones sessile, and the upper ovate. h. 4in. to 6in. Mountains of Greece and Asia Minor, 1873. A handsome perennial rock plant. (B. M. 6047.) O. nitida (shining). fl. white; racemes very long, ebracteate; pedicels and calyces adpressedly pilose. May. l. oblong-lanceolate, nerved, glabrous and shining above, pubescent beneath; lower ones long-stalked; upper ones sessile. Stem erect, branched, glabrous. h. 2ft. Portugal, 1812. Perennial. (B. M. 2529.) O. verna (spring).* fl. blue, with a white throat, distant, on long pedicels; racemes bractless, conjugate, few-flowered. March to May. l., radical ones ovate-cordate; cauline ones ovate-lanceolate, petiolate. h. 6in. South Europe, &c., 1633. A well-known and extremely pretty perennial, which, when fairly established, makes rapid growth, increasing itself by runners, somewhat like Strawberry plants. (B. M. 7, under name of Cynoglossum Omphalodes.)