| Boraginaceae | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Forget-me-not (Myosotis discolor) | ||||||||
| Plant Info | ||||||||
|
| ||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Genera | ||||||||
| many, see text |
Boraginaceae Juss. 1789, the Borage or Forget-me-not family, includes a variety of shrubs, trees, and herbs, totaling about 2,000 species in 100 genera found worldwide. A number of familiar plants belong to this family.
The Boraginaceae belong, according to the APG II, among the euasterid I group including the orders Gentianales, Lamiales, and Solanales, but whether they should be assigned to one of these orders or to their own (Boraginales) is still uncertain. Under the older Cronquist system they were included in the Lamiales, but it is now clear that they are no more similar to the other families in this order than they are to families in several other asterid orders. The Boraginaceae are paraphyletic with respect to Hydrophyllaceae and the latter is included in the former in APG II system. In some recent classifications the Boraginaceae are broken up into several families: Boraginaceae s.s., Cordiaceae, Ehretiaceae, Heliotropiaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, and Lennoaceae.
Most though not all members of this family have hairy leaves. The coarse character of the hairs is due to Silicon dioxide and Calcium carbonate. In some species, Anthocyanins cause the flowers to change their color from red to blue when aging. This is likely used as a signal to pollinators that these old flowers are depleted of pollen and nectar (Hess, 2005).
Well-known members include:
- Alkanet Anchusa tinctoria
- Borage Borago spp.
- Comfrey Symphytum
- Fiddleneck Amsinckia spp.
- Forget-me-not Myosotis spp.
- Geiger Tree Cordia
- Green alkanet Pentaglottis senpervirens
- Heliotrope Heliotropium
- Hound's Tongue Cynoglossum
- Lungwort Pulmonaria
- Oyster Plant Mertensia maritima
- Patterson's Curse Echium plantaginuem
- Viper's Bugloss Echium vulgare
Genera
References
- Diane, N., H. Förther, and H. H. Hilger. 2002. A systematic analysis of Heliotropium, Tournefortia, and allied taxa of the Heliotropiaceae (Boraginales) based on ITS1 sequences and morphological data. American Journal of Botany 89: 287-295 (online abstract here).
- Gottschling, M., H. H. Hilger 1, M. Wolf 2, N. Diane. 2001. Secondary Structure of the ITS1 Transcript and its Application in a Reconstruction of the Phylogeny of Boraginales. Plant Biology (Stuttgart) 3: 629-636.
- Hess, Dieter. 2005. Systematische Botanik. ISBN 3-8252-2673-5