Pentandria Monogynia. Lin. Gen. Plant. 185. 
Gen. Ch. Cor. limbus enlnildinaventiioalus: fauce claufa radiis fubulatis. 
Sp. Ch, §. foliis ovato-lanceolatis decurrentibus. ag 
ROOT perennial, large, branched, on the outfide blackith, within 
whitifh. Stalk about two feet high, ere&t, branched, fomewhat angular, 
- covered with fhort rigid hairs. Leaves. large alternate, thofe below 
ftanding on footftalks ; thofe above feflile, decurrent, ovate, pointed, 
entire, rough, and fringed with fhort hairs. Flowers tubular, of a 
yellowith white, placed in fpikes, which turn inwards in a fpiral 
- manner. Calyx divided into five fegments, which are rough, ered, | 
and pointed. | Corolla funnel-fhaped, confifting of a fhort thick tube, . 
and a limb flightly cut at the edges into five fhort obtufe reflexed 
fegments ; the mouth of the tube clofed by: five narrow pointed nec- 
tarious teeth. Filaments five, fhort, terminated by yellow erect bifid 
anthere. Germen divided:into four parts. Style tapering, longer. 
than the corolla, and furnifhed with a fmall blunt ftigma. Seeds 
_ four, angular, blackifh, fhining, and lodged in the bottom of the 
calyx. It is a common Britith plant. about ditches, Se from - 
June till September. 
A fuppofed vulnerary efficacy, for which this plant was foesty 
in great repute, and to which it feems to owe its name, will now be 
confidered as nothing in its recommendation. . 
However, the root of Comfrey, though rarely ufed, promifes all 
the advantages to be derived from that of marfhmallow ; for accord- 
ing to Lewis ‘“ the dried root, boiled in water, renders a large pro- 
portion of the fluid flimy; and the decoétions infpiflated, yield a 
{trong flavourlefs mucilage, fimilar to that obtained from althza, but 
fomewhat ftronger-bodied, ‘or more tenacious, and in fomewhat. 
larger quantity, amounting to about three-fourths the weight of the © 
Comfrey.” Hence it is inferred, that the confolida is rather fuperior 
to the althza in the feveral intentions for which that root is employed; 
the mucilaginous matter being in both roots the only medicinal - 
principle. aaa as the root of this plant is eafily obtained, it 
may 
