Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 137 (1753).

Derivation: Thought to be derived from Spanish borra, shearings; alluding to the coarse spreading hairs.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: None

Description:
Annual shrubs much-branched and with a basal rosette soon obscured, with spreading hairs of different length; leaves opposite at first, densely clustered and petiolate becoming widely spaced, alternate and sessile on the stems.

Inflorescence terminal, with few to many scorpioid cymes with flowers loosely arranged each on a pedicel usually longer than the bracts; sepals slightly cormate basally, scarcely elongating after flowering; corolla regular, rotate, with a short tube surmounted by 5 cups formed by scales in the throat and, alternating with them, 5 columns each terminating in a stamen supported by a stiff appendage on the outside to retain them in an erect position around the style; stamens inserted in the throat of the corolla tube, with large anthers almost sessile; ovary 4-lobed, with a nectary scale around each lobe, with a style exserted above the stamens, inserted near the base, with an insignificant terminal stigma.

Fruit with the lobes breaking off as hard mericarps leaving an insignificant central gynobase; mericarps oblong-obovoid to almost cylindrical, with a vertical keel usually in the centre and with vertical ridges and/or rugose, with an attachment scar with a raised rim around it.

Distribution:  A genus with 3 species occurring in Europe, the Mediterranean region and extending into Asia; 1 species naturalised in Australia.

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available