- 
308 ORD. XVIII. Asperifolie. | sympnyTu orricrNare. 
-Pentandria Monogynia. Lin. Gen, Plant. 185. 
Gen. Ch. Cor. limbus tubulate-ventricosus : fauce clausa- radiis 
subulatis: 
Sp. Ch. S. folits ovato-lanceolatis decurrentibus. 
ROOT perennial, large, branched, off the outside blackish, within 
whitish. Stalk about two feet high, erect, branched, somewhat 
angular, covered with short rigid hairs.” Leaves large, alternate, 
those below standing on footstalks ; those above sessile, decurrent, 
ovate, pointed, entire, rough, and fringed with short hairs. Flowers 
tubular, of a yellowish white, placed in spikes, which turn inwards 
in a spiral manner. Calyx divided into five segments, which are 
rough, erect, and pointed. Corolla funnel-shaped, consisting of a 
short thick tube, and a limb slightly cut at the edges into five short 
obtuse reftexed segments; the mouth of the tube closed by five 
narrow pointed nectarious teeth. Filaments five, short, terminated 
by yellow erect bifid anthere. Germen divided into four parts. 
Style tapering, longer than the corolla, and furnished with a small 
blunt stigma. Seeds four, angular, blackish, shining, and lodged 
in the bottom of the calyx. It is a common British plant about 
ditches, flowering from June till September. 
A supposed vulnerary efficacy, for which this plant was fOvaEsly 
in great repute, and to which it seems to owe its name, will now 
be considered as nothing in its recommendation. 
However, the root of Comfrey, though rarely used, promises’all 
the advantages to be derived from that of marshmallow; for accord- 
ing to Lewis “ the dried root, boiled im water, renders a large pro- 
portion of the fluid slimy; and the decoctions inspissated, yield a 
strong flavourless mucilage, similar to that obtained from althza, 
‘but somewhat stronger-bodied, or more tenacious, and in somewhat 
larger quantity, amounting to about three-fourths the weight of 
the Comfrey.” Hence it it inferred, that the consolida is rather 
superior to the althaa in the several intentions for which that root 
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