Keyed Out #106 — Brunnera macrophylla

Question 1

Five small pale scales pinch the throat of each flat five-lobed {corolla} shut, so the flower reads as a blue wheel with a white eye rather than an open tube or a ring of free petals.

Accepted Answer

borage family

Question 2

After the petals fall each flower leaves four hard one-seeded {nutlets} loose in the dried {calyx}, a {schizocarp} that breaks into four, not a many-seeded pod and not a head of dry one-seeded achenes.

Accepted Answer

Boraginaceae

Question 3

Draw a thumb across either face of a leaf and it drags like fine sandpaper, stiff bristles set on swollen bases, harsh enough that browsing deer leave the clump alone.

Accepted Answer

Brunnera

Question 4

The blades all rise on long stalks straight from the crown into a low mound, and the stems that carry the flowers above them bear only a few small {sessile} leaves.

Accepted Answer

Brunnera

Question 5

The crown thickens slowly in place year on year and throws out no travelling runners, so the planting stays a liftable mound instead of knitting into a spreading mat.

Accepted Answer

Brunnera macrophylla

Question 6

Each blade is {cordate}, notched deeply where the stalk meets it, and spreads to about 6 inches (15 cm) across, outsized beside flowers barely a fingernail wide.

Accepted Answer

Brunnera macrophylla