814 THE BORAGE FAMILY. [Lycoptit. 



annual, covered with very stiff hairs. Steins procumbent at the base, 

 branched, 1 to 2 feet long. Leaves lanceolate or oblong-linear, waved 

 on the edges, and often toothed ; the lower ones often stalked, the 

 upper ones sessile or stem-clasping. Flowers in simple or forked, ter- 

 minal, 1-sided spikes. Calyx deeply 5-cleft, and nuts wrinkled as in 

 Anchusa. Corolla pale blue, with the tube always curved in the middle. 

 A common European and north Asiatic weed of cultivation, carried 

 out with European crops to North America, and other parts of the 

 world. Extends all over Britain. Fl. summer. 



VIII. SYMPHYTUM. COMFREY. 



Bough, hairy perennials, with yellow or purple drooping flowers, in 

 short, terminal, forked cymes, and no bracts under the pedicels, 

 Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla tubular, but enlarged above the middle, 

 where it is closed inside by 5 lanceolate scales, and terminates in 5 

 very small spreading teeth or lobes. Stamens shorter than the corolla. 

 Nuts ovoid, smooth, attached by their base. 



The genus contains but few species, nearly resembling each other, 

 and extends over Europe and northern Asia. 

 Stem 2 or 3 feet high, branched, more or less winged by the de- 

 current base of the leaves 1. S. offleinale. 



Stem simple, about a foot high. Leaves stalked or scarcely de- 

 current 2. S. tubrrosum. 



1. S. officinale, Linn. (fig. 707). Common . Rootstock thick, with 

 stout, erect, branching, annual stems, 2 or 3 feet high. Leaves broadly 

 lanceolate, often 8 or 9 inches long or more, tapering into a long point, 

 and rough with short, stiff hairs ; the lower ones stalked, the upper 

 ones sessile and decurrent along the stem to the next leaf below or even 

 lower down. Flower cymes stalked above the last leaf, once or seldom 

 twice forked ; the branches forming short, 1 -sided racemes. Flowers 

 all pedicellate, 3 lines long, either pale yellow or a dark dingy-purple, 



On moist banks, the borders of meadows, Ac., in Europe and western 

 Asia, extending northward into southern Scandinavia. Frequent in 

 England and Ireland, but less so in Scotland, and not wild north of 

 Aberdeen or Glasgow. Fl, spring and summer. 



2. S. tuberosum, Linn. (fig. 708). Tuberous C.A. much smaller 

 plant than the common species, seldom above a foot high, and not 

 branched. The rootstock forms a short woody tuber. Leaves mostly 

 ovate and stalked ; the upper ones nearly sessile, and very slightly 

 decurrent. Cymes small and few-flowered, the flowers themselves 

 about the size of those of C. officinale. 



In woods, and on shady banks, in central and southern Europe, but 

 scarcely extending into northern Germany. In Britain, not found 

 south of North Wales and Bedford, being more frequent in southern 

 Scotland than in England ; absent from Ireland. FL. summer. 



IX. BOEAQO. BORAGE. 



Rough, hairy annuals or biennials, with blue flowers in loose forked 

 Calyx deeply 6-cleft, Corolla rotate ; the tube exceedingly 



