Boraginaceae : The Forget-Me-Not or Borage Family

To date six species of this family have been collected in the Oapan, San Juan Tetelcingo, and Ameyaltepec area, belonging to the genera, Bourreria (1 species), Cordia (2 species) and Heliotropium (2 species). One collected plant (identified by Silvestre Pantaleón of Oapan as té:xihtlí (#297) has been provisionally classified as a Boraginaceae but not further identified. Finally, a species of the genus Heliotropium was collected but not identified by any of the Nahuatl consultants.

The Nahuatl data are interesting in that in two cases consultants distinguished between two plants that have been provisionally assigned to one genus-species in Western taxonomy. This can be seen in the table below where, for example, Chen Díaz, a consultant from Ameyaltepec, distinguished between ye:paso:tl xiwtli (#20) and yeye:paso:ltsi:n (#107) both of which were identified as Heliotropium procumbens Mill. Likewise, all consultants distinguished two types of tlakwa:mpets, one white (istá:k; #87) and the other dark or black (tli:ltik, #306); both of these have been tentatively identified as Cordia aff. alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken.

The following members of this family have been documented in sources consulted on Guerrero flora: Bourreria spathulata, Cordia curassavica, Cordia cylindrostachya, Cordia elaeagnoides, Cordia gerascanthus, Cordia inermis, Cordia morelosana, Cordia sp., Heliotropium angiospermum, Heliotropium calcicola, Heliotropium indicum, Heliotropium pringlei, Heliotropium procumbens, Lithospermum distichum, Lithospermum sp., and Tournefortia mutabilis.

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