It's Borage Week on iNaturalist! Mar 20 - 27, 2016

It’s Forget-me-not Week on the 2016 Critter Calendar! Get out in the field and search for the huge Boraginaceae family of plants, also known as borages or forget-me-nots. There are over 2,000 known species of these plants, and they range widely throughout tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions around the world, so there should be some near you!

With such a diverse family there are many variants among the Boraginaceae. Plus the family has been recently expanded to include the formerly separate waterleaf family, Hydrophyllaceae! But here are several borage traits you can look for. If the plant has all or most of these traits, it’s likely a borage.

  • The leaves are mostly alternately arranged (they do not appear on the stem across from each other), and are usually narrow and hairy. Sometimes the hairs can be irritating to the skin.
  • Flowers are usually with fused petals. They generally have five petals, five sepals, and five stamens (where pollen is produced). Flower bunches are sometimes arranged in a helicoid or spiral pattern, like the fiddlenecks.
  • Fruit a capsules are composed of four individual nutlets.
  • Most borages are herbaceous, meaning they lack persistent woody stems. However, some are shrubs or trees.

Some well-known members of the Boraginaceae are the forget-me-nots (Myosotis sp.), flddlenecks (Amsinckia sp.), scorpionweeds (Phacelia sp.), viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare), Geiger tree (Cordia sebestena), and heliotropes (Heliotropium sp.). Borage (Borago officinalis) has edible leaves and is sometimes cultivated for food.

If you think you see any of these this week, share your observations with us. We’ll be keeping track here. Happy forget-me-not hunting!

Posted on 21 de março de 2016, 07:25 AM by loarie loarie

Comentários

As it happens I've just added a Large Blue Alkanet (Anchusa azurea). Here in Crete, Greece it is called αγόγλωσσος (agoglossus) and the locals eat the tender stems boiled, steamed or fried.

Publicado por stevedaniels cerca de 8 anos antes

Lots of borages among the Sonoran desert spring ephemerals - Cryptanthas, Pectocaryas, Phacelias, Eucryptas, Amsinckias, Plagiobothrys, and a Pholistoma. Many are shared with the Mojave desert in California as well.

Publicado por stevejones cerca de 8 anos antes

Just in time for my trip to the Mojave! Phacelia spp coming soon

Publicado por dgreenberger cerca de 8 anos antes

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