BORAGE TEIBE 263 



in great abundance in the external part of the root, is almost absent from the 

 internal portion. Beckmann says of it : 'A solution of spermaceti in sul- 

 phureous ether, tinged with Alkanet root, which solidifies at 50° F., and 

 melts and boils with the heat of the hand, is supposed to be the substance 

 which is used at Naples when the blood of St. Januarius melts spontaneously, 

 and boils over the vessel which contains it." The Common Alkanet is not a 

 native, but it is frequent in our gardens, and probably in the few places in 

 which it grows apparently wild, it originally escaped from cultivation. 



The bristles which cover the stem and leaves of our Common Alkanet are 

 far more stiff and sharp in some of the other species. They arise from a 

 minute stony base, which, by the aid of a lens, is seen to consist of a cluster 

 of very hard cells of cellular tissue. These rough tubercles become in all the 

 species more apparent when the plant grows older. 



2. Evergreen Alkanet (A. sempervirens). — Leaves egg-shaped, lower 

 ones upon long stalks ; flower-stalks axillary ; flowers salver-shaped, in short 

 spikes ; perennial. This is a stout bristly plant, about one or two feet high. 

 Its leaves are of rich deep-green colour, and the flowers, which expand in 

 May and June, are large, and of an intense azure blue. It is a rare plant, 

 sometimes found among ruins and by road-sides, where it doubtless in many 

 cases originated from some neighbouring garden ; but though not generally 

 considered as a wild plant, it appears to be truly naturalized in some parts of 

 Yorkshire, and it is by no means unfrequent in hedges in Devonshire. The 

 French call the Alkanet La Buglosse ; the Germans, Ochsenzung ; the Dutch, 

 Ossetong ; the Italians, Ancusa. 



7. BuGLOSS (Lycopsis). 



Small Bugloss (L. arvhisis). — Leaves lanceolate, toothed, and wavy, very 

 bristly ; calyx erect while in flower ; annual. The leaves of this plant are of 

 the richest dark-green hue, but so rough and hairy that the gatherer of wild 

 flowers hesitates ere he takes it for his nosegay. The hairs or bristles stand 

 on white, hard tubercles, very apparent in the older leaves, and the lower 

 leaves are lengthened into stalks. The flowers, which grow in curved clusters, 

 expand in June and July, are of the most brilliant blue, very small for the 

 size of the foliage, and differing little from those of the Alkanet, except in the 

 remarkable circumstance of having the tube of the corolla bent. The French 

 call this plant Li/copside ; the Germans, Knimmhals ; the Portuguese, Liden 

 oxetunge ; and the Dutch, JFolfsclujn. This last, as well as the scientific name, 

 has a reference to the fancied resemblance of this flower to the face or eye of a 

 wolf ; but he must have had a very active fancy to Avhose mind the 

 resemblance was first suggested. 



8. COMFREY {Symphytum). 



1. Common Comfrey (*S^. officinale). — Leaves egg-shaped and lanceolate, 

 tapering at the base, and running down the stem ; flowers drooping, in two- 

 forked clusters ; root-stock branched, perennial. This plant, which is very 

 common on the borders of rivers, is not likely to be overlooked by any 

 rambler there. Not that the flowers of the Comfrey are at all showy, but 

 the stem is two or three feet high, and branched, and it has large, strongly- 



