Lithospermum

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Lithospermum >

Read about Lithospermum in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Lithospermum (Greek, stone seed; the seeds like little stones). Boraginaceae. Cromwell. Puccoon. Low-growing hardy mostly herbaceous perennials of minor importance, some of them attractive as alpines and in rock-gardens. Lithospermum has fifty species in extra-tropical regions around the globe, mostly in the northern hemisphere: herbs or subshrubs, rough, silky, or bristly: lvs. alternate, sessile and entire: fls. white, yellow, bluish or violet, in leafy often curved racemes or spikes, sometimes dimorphous as to stamens and style; calyx 5-parted; corolla funnel- or salver-shaped, 5-lobed, the tube cylindrical and straight, the throat naked or crested; stamens 5, fixed to the tube; ovary 4-lobed, with a slender style, stigma usually capitate or 2-lobed: plants mostly with red roots. The genus is closely allied to Moltkia, which see. In cultivation, the best known is L. fruticosum, a rock-garden trailer, which bears numerous leafy spikes of blue flowers, each about ½ inch across, from early summer to autumn. L. purpureo-caeruleum is also an old garden plant. The common gromwell, L. officinale, is rarely cultivated as a medicinal herb. Others are procurable from dealers in native plants. Seeds of the gromwell and the western species are procurable, and plants of the other kinds from dealers in rock-garden plants. L. fruticosum is said to be propagated only by cuttings of the previous year's wood; L. multiflorum by cuttings of young shoots. The kinds with red roots yield a dye. L. arvense is an annual or biennial introduced weed; but most of the species (and those cultivated) are perennial. The best known garden kinds are European, but the American species are deserving of greater attention. The garden names of Lithospermum are confused and need to be re-studied. L. coelestinum, Hort., is described as "a most desirable low-growing plant for the rockery," with pretty blue fls. in June. Probably Moltkia caerulea.—L. froebellii, Hort., is said to be "a dwarf compact plant with rosemary-like lvs. and deep blue fls. on erect sts. about 9 in. high."—L. graminfolium Viv.-Moltkia graminifolia.—L. intermedifolium, Hort., is "a pretty dwarf shrubby plant with pale blue fls."—L. intermedium, Hort., perhaps the same as the last, is "a pretty dwarf shrubby species, with fls. a lovely shade of blue." Somewhat shrubby, 8-10 in. high: lvs. narrow and slightly hoary: fls. tubular, drooping. G. 34:857. Probably these are Moltkias.—L. petraeum, A. DC.—Moltkia.—L. rosmarinifolium, Tenore. Evergreen, from Italy and Greece, 1-2 ft.: lvs. narrow, 1 in. or more long: fls. bright blue, striped white about ¼in. diam. Gn.W. 22:139. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

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