A widely distributed plant of the borage family, typically having white or blue flowers which are followed by smooth hard nutlets.
紫草属植物
Genus Lithospermum, family Boraginaceae: several species, in particular the common Eurasian L. officinale
Example sentencesExamples
Among the other species are broom groundsel, James' catseye, narrow-leaf gromwell, narrow-leaved penstemon, needle and thread, nodding buckwheat, rubber rabbitbrush, and yucca.
The sturdy, somewhat odiferous false gromwell occurs across most of North Dakota, but may be absent or rare in the extreme southwestern counties.
Corn gromwell is an annual with erect, slender, single stems or several stems branched from the base.
That exquisitely beautiful grass-leaved gromwell which is supposed to be unsuited to our climate, Lithospermum graminifolium, covers a broad ledge, and is not less delightful than the better-known prostratum and the form Heavenly Blue; among profusely bloomed blue-flowered plants there are few greater June treasures than these gromwells.
False gromwell is the common name usually applied to plants in this genus because of a perceived similarity in appearance to some of the gromwells (Lithospermum).
Origin
Middle English: from Old French gromil, probably from a medieval Latin phrase meaning 'crane's millet'.