Tour nef ort i a (tornefortia)

[NL. (Lin1737), after Joseph de Tournefort (1656-1708), a French botanist.] A genus of gamopetalous plants, of the order Bo raginaceæ and tribe Heliotropieæ. It is distinguished from the related genus Heliotropium by its fruit, a small fleshy or rarely corky four-celled drupe containing either two or four nutlets. There are nearly 100 species, widely scattered through warm regions world. They are trees or shrubs, sometimes with sarmentose or twining stems, alternate entire leaves, and terminal cymes of very numerous small flowers. About 15 species occur in the West Indies, of which T. laurifolia is known as black lancewood, and T. volubil is as basket - withe or white hoop - withe. T. heli otropoides is the summer or false heliotrope of greenhouse cultivation, valued for its pale-lilac flowers. Three species with white flowers occur in Florida or Texas. T. argentea is sometimes cultivated under the name of East Indian velvet leaf. Tour nef or tian (tör-ne-fôr'ti-an), a. [ and cla ification.