BORAGINACEJE 161 



SYMPHYTUM L. COMFREY 



S. officinale L. Common Comfrey. Stems stout, 2-3 ft. high. Leaves, 

 large, broadly lanceolate, tapering to a long point and rough with short stiff 

 hairs. Flowers in cymes forming one-sided racemes, pale yellow or dull purple. 

 Borders of ditches and damp, shady places. May-July. 



S. tuberosum L. Tuberous Comfrey. A smaller plant about a foot high. 

 Root stock tuberous. Leaves mostly ovate and stalked, the upper ones chiefly 

 sessile and slightly decurrent. Cymes small and few flowered. Flowers pale 

 yellow. 



Damp, shady places and borders of streams, local. April-June. 



S. bulbosum Schimp. Leaves broadly lanceolate, slightly or not at all de- 

 current. The lower onespetioled. The slender root-stock forms rounded tubers. 

 Flowers small, pale yellow. Scales of corolla linear, very prominent and more 

 than half the length of the corolla itself. 



Fields and shady places, rare. March-May. 



S. Bicknelli Bucknall (S. bulbosum x tuberosum). This hybrid was found 

 by Mr. Bicknell near Bordighera, and is described by Mr. C. Bucknall in his ex- 

 cellent " Revision of the Genus Symphytum " in " Journ. Linn. Soc.," Dec., 1913. 



S. floribundum Shuttle. This has been recorded but not recently seen 

 from a few places by streams near Aups, Hyeres, and Ampus. The flowers 

 are whitish and the leaves rather broad, the upper ones decurrent and the lower 

 ones long petioled and amplexicaul at base. Scales of corolla short, lanceolate, 

 obtuse. It is described by Mr. Cedric Bucknall (loc. cit.) and has nothing to do 

 with S. mediterranean! K., as thought by Schultz and other Botanists. 

 " Its distinguishing characters are the partially decurrent leaves, the dense many- 

 flowered racemes, the short pedicels of the flowers, and the companulate calyx 

 not divided to the middle." It was discovered at Hyeres by Shuttleworth in 1871 

 and appears very rare, for Mr. Bucknall hns seen specimens only from there and 

 from Aups. S. mediterranean! K. (1837) grows at Aubagne (Bouches-du- 

 Rhone) not 20 miles from Toulon, and possibly in the Var and in Alpes-Marit. 

 But it is nearer S. tuberosum. 



ANCHUSA L. 



A. pfficinalis L. Alkanet. Biennial, about 2 ft. high, covered with coarse, 

 stiff hairs. Root-leaves long and stalked, lower stem-leaves lanceolate, upper 

 ones smaller. Flowers nearly sessile, rich blue, in one-sided forked spikes 

 lengthening as the flowering advances. 



Borders of fields and waste places, rare. June-August. Les lies d'Hyeres. 



A. undulata L. Biennial. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, sinuate ; corolla-tube 



longer than the limb and slightly passing the calyx. Flowers blue or purplish, 

 vineyards, rare. May-July. Toulon, Hyeres, Cannes, etc. 



Fields and 



A. italica Rctz. (Plate XXII). Leaves lanceolate, hispid, entire or slightly 

 sinuate. Corolla-tube as long as the limb and shorter than the calyx. Flowers 

 a beautiful rich blue or sometimes purplish-blue. Lower leaves petioled. 



Borders of fields and waste places, common. May-June. 



LYCOPSIS L. 



L. aryensisL. Small Bugloss. Annual. Very hispid, with small tuberous- 

 based bristles. Root-leaves petioled, obovate-lanceolate, stem-leaves linear- 

 oblong, sessile, acute, margin waved and toothed. Cymes terminal, simple, or 

 forked, drooping and recurved finally. Flowers subsessile. Corolla small, bright 

 blue. Nutlets small, reticulate. 



Sandy places, fairly common. May- July. 



ALCANNA Tausch. 



A. lutea DC. Annual. Hispid and almost glandular. Leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, lower ones shortly petioled, the others sessile. Flowers yellow, small, 



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