Trachystemon
(from trachys, rough, and stemon, a stamen; alluding to the villous filaments of one of the species). SYNS. Nordmannia, Psilostemon. ORD. Boragineae. A genus including only a couple of species of hardy, erect, branched, hispid, perennial herbs. found in the Orient. Flowers pink or white, pedicellate; calyx five-cleft; corolla tube cylindrical, five-scaled within, the five lobes linear, spreading, or at length revolute; stamens five; cymes rather loose, bundle-flowered. Nutlets four, erect. Radical leaves often ample, long-petiolate; cauline ones few, alternate. T. orientalis, the only species calling for description here, thrives in ordinary soil; it may be multiplied by seeds, or by divisions.
T. orientalis (Eastern). fl. purplish-blue, copious, on long pedicels; corolla lobes revolute, pilose outside at the apex. March to May. l. hispid, broad; lower ones cordate: upper cauline ones ovate-lanceolate, narrowed at base. Stem hispid. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1752. (G. C. n. s., xiv., p. 17.) SYN. Borago orientalis (B. R. 288; S. F. G. 175).