HELIOTROPE.
Heliotropium Curassavicum, L. Borage Family.
Diffusely spreading; six to twelve inches high. Leaves.—Alternate; sessile; obovate to linear; an inch or two long; succulent; glaucous. Flowers.—Usually white, sometimes lavender; in dense, usually two-forked spikes. Calyx.—Five-parted. Corolla.—Salver-form; border five-lobed, with plaited sinuses; three lines across. Stamens.—Five. Anthers sessile. Ovary.—Of four seedlike nutlets. Stigma umbrella-like. Hab.—Widely distributed.
This, the only species of true heliotrope common within our borders, is widely distributed over the world. It affects the sand of the seashore or saline soils of the interior. It is in no way an attractive plant, as compared with our garden heliotrope, as its flowers have a washed-out look and are not at all fragrant, while its pale stems and foliage lack color and character.
Its leaves, which contain a mucilaginous juice, are dried and reduced to powder by the Spanish-Californians, who esteem them very highly as a cure for the wounds of men and animals. They blow the dry powder into the wound.