rONVOTvVn.ACE^E. 



188 



(Tvv, tof^ether, n\\(\ r)>vr6v, a 

 mucilage contaiued in the 



Etiimnlnrjy. — Sijinphutum is fmni the Greek 

 plant, in allusion to the gummy character ..f the 

 root of this plant. Comfrey, from the Latin 

 ronfirnmre, strenrjthen, owes its name to its 

 healing properties. 



History. — 'V\\\s plant is indigenous to the 

 Peloponnesus and Greek islands, whence it 

 has worked its way westward to the British 

 Isles ; it was introduced by European colo- 

 nists into northeast America, where it has 

 become naturalized about old dwellings and 

 around ruins, having escaped from gardens. 

 It loves damp, rich soil. 



^se. — The root abounds in a gummy, 

 glue-like mucilage; a decoction of it is used 

 to bind up wounds. It is also used for 

 throat and lung troubles, on account of the 

 soothing properties of its mucilage. It is 

 grateful in irritable stomach complaints. 

 It likewise serves as a remedy for bleeding 



at the lungs ; and the bruised heated root is sometimes applied to wounds 

 in the form of a poultice. 



Symphytttm officinale (Comfrey). 



Order XXXVIII. CONVOLVULACE^. 



Flowers perfect, regular; peduncles axillary or terminal, simple or 

 dichotomous, usually bibracteate ; calyx 5-sepaled, usually free and per- 

 sistent ; corolla hypogynous ; petals united and funnel-shaped, twisted 

 in the bud; stamens 5, inserted at the bottom of the corolla-tube, 

 alternating with its lobes ; filaments swollen below, thread-like above ; 

 style simple, or nearly so ; seeds few, 2 in each of the.2-3 cells of the 

 ovary. Fruit capsular ; carpels connate. Herbaceous, woody, or sub- 

 woody plants, climbing or trailing. 



No. of genera, 32 ; .species, 800 ; cosmopolitan ; mo.stly in warm 

 sands. 



IPOMCEA, L. Calyx .>parted ; sepals green ; corolla salver or funnel- 

 shaped, spreading; number of stamens 5 in the throat; style simple, 

 terminated by a head-shaped stigma, which is sometimes 2-lobed ; 

 seed-ves.sel 2- or 3-valved, 2- or spuriously 4- or 3-celled ; seeds 4-6. 



1. I. batatas, Lam. (Sweet Potato.) Ovary spuriously 4-celled ; stem from 

 2 to 10 feet long, creeping and rooting at every node, from an eighth to a 

 quarter of an inch in dianif^ter. Leaves very variable, usually triangular or 

 3-lobed ; general outline heart shaped, the sinus at the base bri>ad. .'i-veined, 

 smooth '; blade 2 to ^ inches long. ..n lone: petioles. Flowers on long peduncles. 

 2 to .5 in a cluster, jturple ; root gives rise to loni^. spindle-shaped tubers. Au 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Geography. — Thv sweet p«>tato is lar^^ely cultivated in soutliern United 

 States, and conips tc perfection a* far north as t]w ("arolinas. North of North 

 Carolina it was not formerly supposed to he perfect ; but for the last (juarter 



