212 COMFREY. 



Strong hairs, somewhat angular, slightly membranous at the 

 angles, and rising to the height of two feet. The leaves are 

 alternate, large, attenuate, acute, of a deep green colour, rough 

 and fringed with short liairs ; the lower ones are ovate and pe- 

 tiolate ; the upper nearly sessile, ovate-lanceolate and very 

 decurrent, so as to form winged appendages to the stem. The 

 flowers are disposed in a short, drooping raceme, somewhat in- 

 curved towards the summit, and generally turned towards the 

 same side ; they vary from a yellowish white to a purplish or 

 reddish hue. The calyx is divided into five lanceolate segments, 

 which are rough, erect, pointed, and about the length of the tube 

 of the corolla. The corolla is cylindrical, swollen upwards, 

 with a short tube, and divided at the limb into five short recurved 

 segments, the throat closed with five subulate scales converging 

 into a cone. The stamens are five, with short filaments inserted 

 into the corolla, terminated by yellow, erect, sagittate anthers 

 concealed by the scales. The germen is four-parted, with a 

 style longer than the corolla, and a small obtuse stigma. The 

 fruit consists of four angular, dark, shining achenia, or small nuts, 

 situated in the bottom of the persistent calyx. Plate 10, fig. 3, 

 (a) calyx and pistil ; (b) the corolla opened to shew the stamens 

 and scales ; (c) the fruit. 



This plant is frequently met with by the banks of rivers, 

 ditches, and watery places, flowering in May and Jvme. 



The common Comfrey is generally supposed to be the plant 

 described by Dioscorides under the name of cu/xcfiuroy *, derived 

 from (Tvixi^vcv, to unite, on account of the consolidating and vul- 

 nerary qualities which were ever attributed to this plant ; hence 

 also the Latin, consoUda, — Symphytum, and the French, consoude, 

 and other synonymes. The term Comfrey was probably de- 

 rived from the old French word Comjrie, or Con-vyre, having 

 the same meaning as the foregoing. In rural dialects it has 

 also the names of Consound, Knit-back, Bone-set, and Black- 

 wort. 



The plants contained in this genus are large and coarse, but 

 showy and well adapted for shrubberies. They are mostly pro- 

 pagated by dividing the roots, which will grow in almost any 

 soil or situation. There is one other British species, the tuber- 



* Quod carnes dum coquuntur agglutinat additum.- -Z>Josc. lib. iv. c. 9, 

 p. 249, et PH71. lib. xxvii. c. 6, p 670. 



