NAT. ORDER. 



Boraginc(B. 



SYMPHYTUM ORIENTALE. ' COMMON COMFREY. 



Class V. Pentandria. Order I. MonogyiSiIa. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, five-parted. Corolla, cylindrically campannlate , 

 Throat., furnished with five subulate, vauUcd processes, which 

 connive into a cone. A\Us, four, one-celled, ovate, fixed to the 

 bottom of the calyx, imperforated at the base. 



Spc. Char. Stem, branched, hairy. Leaves, ovate-oblong, acumi- 

 nated, petioled, hairy above, and villous beneath ; upper ones nar- 

 rowed at the base : floral ones opposite, sessile. Calyx, five-cleft, 

 tubular at the base. Segments, of the corolla, ovate, acute. 



The root is perennial, large, branched, on the outside blackish, 

 and within whitish ; the stuUc is about two feet high ; erect, branched,, 

 somewhat angular, and covered with short ridged hairs ; the leaves 

 are large, alternate, and those below stand upon footstalks, those above 

 sessile, decuiTcnt, ovate, pointed, entire, rough, and fringed with short 

 hairs ; the Jloiccrs are tubular, of a yellowish white, and placed in- 

 spikes, which turn inward in a spiral manner ; the calyx is divided into 

 five segments, which are rough, erect, and pointed ; the corolla is fim- 

 nel-shaped, consisting of a short thick tube, and a limb slightly cut at 

 the edges into five short obtuse reflexed segments ; the mouth of the 

 tube closed by five narrow-pointed nectarious teeth ; ihc filaments are 

 five, short, and terminated by yellow erect bifid anthci-s ; the germen 

 is divided into four parts ; the alyle is tapering, longer than the corolla, 

 and furnished with a small blunt stigma ; the seeds are four, angular, 

 blackish, shining, and lodged in tlie bottom of the calyx. This is a com- 



VoL. III.— 169. 



