480 BORAGE TRIBE. NIGHTSHADE TRIBE. 



is not unfrequently used as a domestic remedy. The common 

 Comfrey (Symphytum officinale), growing on the banks of rivers 

 and in watery places, also abounds in mucilage ; and its young 

 stems and leaves, when boiled, are sometimes employed as articles 



FlG. 173.1 BORAGINBJS. 



of food. In several species of this order, the roots contain a 

 reddish-brown colouring matter, which may be extracted for the 

 use of the dyers ; the one chiefly cultivated for this purpose, 

 however, is the Anchusa tinctoria, or Alkanet, the produce of 

 which ia largely employed in this country (. 394). 



656. The next order is also an extensive one, and it is of 

 much greater direct importance to Man ; supplying him with one 

 of his staple articles of food, and with some of his most valuable 

 medicines, as well as with other products in most extensive use ; 

 and notwithstanding this, it is one of the most poisonous tribes 

 in the whole vegetable kingdom. This is the order SOLANKE, or 

 Nightshade tribe, of which the common Deadly Nightshade 

 will serve as a characteristic example. We here return to 

 flowers whose structure is regular or nearly so. The calyx 

 presents five equal teeth ; the monopetalous corolla has five equal 



