BORAGINACEAE
Morphological description
Climbers (Tournefortia); beach shrub, leaves silvery hairy (Tournefortia argentea); tree with winged fruit (Pteleocarpa).
Leaves
Leaves alternate (rarely partly subopposite), simple. Leaves usually rough to the touch by short stiff hairs
Inflorescence
Inflorescence scorpioid.
Flowers
Flower 5-merous, calyx persistent, corolla sympetalous; ovary 2-locular, or 4-locular by false septa, one ovule per cell.
Fruits
Fruit sometimes winged (Pteleocarpa).
Different from: Gesneriaceae: leaves mostly decussate, seeds numerous. — Labiatae: leaves mostly decussate, ovary 4-locular.
Distribution: The family widespread. In Malesia 15 genera, incl.: - Cordia (pantropical), trees and shrubs, lowland and coastal rain forest; - Ehretia (pantropical), shrubs or trees, lowland rain forest, seasonal forest; - Heliotropium (pantropical), herbs, often weedy; - Trigonotis (Eurasia, E. to New Guinea) herbs, often creeping, subalpine and alpine vegetation.
Notes: Some species planted as ornamentals: Cordia, Myosotis. — Pteleocarpa should perhaps be excluded from Boraginaceae (see Veldkamp, 1988). Ehretiaceae synonym.
Literature: I.M. Johnston, J. Arnold Arbor. 32 (1951) 1-26, 99-122; J.F. Veldkamp, Notes on Pteleocarpa incertae sedis, Fl. Males. Bull. 19 (1988) 47-50; H. Riedl, Fl. Males. I, 13 (1997) 43-144.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Boraginaceae leaf with domatia (p.p.), leaf margin dentate/ serrate (p.p.), corolla/petals with appendages (p.p.), fruit spiny or muricate (p.p.), Argusia drying leaves turn black, Cordia leaf with dots (p.p.), cystoliths,style double forked, Cynoglossum fruit spiny or muricate, Heliotropium drying leaves turn black, Omphalodes fruit spiny or muricate (p.p.), Pteleocarpa twigs white, petiole black (p.p.), dried plants resinous (p.p.),style long forked (not double),style double forked, fruit winged, Tournefortia climbers with opposite leaves (p.p.), leaves opposite in spiral-leaved families (p.p.), drying leaves turn black, Trigonotis p.p. cushion plants.
Illustrations: Fig. 18. Cordia subcordata Lam. (Courtesy FRIM, Kepong) & Fig. 19. Trigonotis inoblita F. Muell.: a. habit; b. infloresecence; c. flower (corolla removes); d. corolla inside (Courtesy Dr. P. van Royen).
Images in PhytoImages for Boraginaceae.