greenish in colour, whilst that from
the kainite layer is soft and earthy, and yellowish or reddish in
colour. (L. J. S.)

BORAGE (pronounced like "courage"; possibly from Lat. _borra_, rough
hair), a herb (_Borago officinalis_) with bright blue flowers and hairy
leaves and stem, considered to have some virtue as a cordial and a
febrifuge; used as an ingredient in salads or in making claret-cup, &c.

BORAGINACEAE, an order of plants belonging to the sympetalous section of
dicotyledons, and a member of the series Tubiflorae. It is represented
in Britain by bugloss (_Echium_) (fig. 1), comfrey (_Symphytum_),
_Myosotis_, hounds-tongue (_Cynoglossum_) (fig. 2), and other genera,
while borage (_Borago officinalis_) (fig. 3) occurs as a garden escape
in waste ground. The plants are rough-haired annual or perennial herbs,
more rarely shrubby or arborescent, as in _Cordia_ and _Ehretia_, which
are tropical or sub-tropical. The leaves, which are generally alternate,
are usually entire and narrow: the radical leaves in some genera, as
_Pulmonaria_ (lungwort) and _Cynoglossum_, differ in form from the
stem-leaves, being generally broader and sometimes heart-shaped. A
characteristic feature is the one-sided (_dorsiventral_) inflorescence,
well illustrated in forget-me-not and other species of _Myosotis_; the
cyme is at first closely coiled, becoming uncoiled as the flowers open.
At the same time there is often a change in colour in the flowers, which
are red in bud, becoming blue as they expand, as in _Myosotis, Echium,
Symphytum_ and others. The flowers are generally regular; the form of
the corolla varies widely. Thus in borage it is rotate, tubular in
comfrey, funnel-shaped in hounds-tongue, and salver-shaped in alkanet
(_Anchusa_); the throat is often closed by scale-like outgrowths from
the corolla, forming the so-called corona. A departure from the usual
regular corolla occurs in _Echium_ and a few allied genera, where it is
oblique; in _Lycopsis_ it is also bent.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Viper's Bugloss (_Echium vulgare_), about 1/4
nat. size.

1. Single flower, about nat. size. 6. Calyx surrounding nutlets.
2. Corolla split open. 7. Same part of calyx cut away.
3. Calyx. 8. Two nutlets.
4. Pistil. 9. Same enlarged.]
5. One stamen.

The five stamens alternate in position with the lobes of the corolla.
The ovary, of two carpels,