92 BORAGINACEAE. Vo, IIT. 
14. SYMPHYTUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. Pl. 136. 1753. 
Erect coarse hairy perennial branching herbs, with. thick mucilaginous roots, alternate 
entire leaves, those of the stem mostly clasping, the uppermost tending to be opposite, the 
lower long-petioled. Flowers yellow, blue, or purple, in terminal simple or forked scorpioid 
racemes. Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla tubular, slightly dilated above, 5-toothed or 5-lobed, 
the lobes short, the throat with 5 crests below the lobes. Stamens 5, included, inserted on 
the corolla-tube; filaments slender. Ovary 4-divided; style filiform. Nutlets 4, obliquely 
ovoid, slightly incurved, wrinkled, inserted by their bases on the flat receptacle, the scar of 
the attachment broad, concave, dentate. 
virtues. ] 
[Greek, grow-together, from its supposed healing 
About 15 species, natives of the Old World. Type species: Symphytum officinale L. 
Leaf-bases decurrent. 
1. S. officinale. 
Leaf-bases not decurrent, or but slightly decurrent. 2. S. asperrimum, 
1. Symphytum officinale L. Comfrey. Healing-herb. Fig. 3547. 
Symphytum officinale L. Sp. Pl. 136. 1753. 
Roots thick, deep; stem erect, branched, 2°-3° 
high. Leaves lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or the 
lower ovate, pinnately veined, 3-10’ long, acute 
or acuminate at the apex, narrowed into mar- 
gined petioles, or the uppermost smaller and 
sessile, decurrent on the stem; petioles of the 
basal leaves sometimes 12’ long; flowers numer- 
ous, in dense racemes or clusters; pedicels 2’-4” 
long; calyx-segments ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 
acute or acuminate, much shorter than the co- 
rolla; corolla yellowish or purplish, 6’—-10” long; 
nutlets brown, shining, slightly wrinkled, 2” 
high. 
In waste places, Newfoundland to Minnesota, 
south to Virginia and North Carolina. Naturalized 
or adventive from Europe. Native also of Asia. 
June—-Aug. Back- or black-wort. Bruisewort. Knit- 
back. Boneset. Consound. Gum-plant. 
Symphytum tuberésum L., with thickened tuber- 
ous roots, the nutlets granular-tuberculate, not shin- 
ing, has been found in sandy meadows in Con- 
necticut. 
2. Symphytum aspérimum Donn. Rough 
Comfrey. Fig. 3548. 
S. asperrimum Donn; Sims, Bot. Mag. 24: pl. 929. 
1806. 
Similar to S. officinale, but the pubescence 
rougher, the hairs stiff and reflexed. Leaves ovate- 
lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, long-acuminate at 
the apex, narrowed at the base, all but the upper- 
most petioled, slightly or not at all decurrent, the 
lower often 8 long; flower-clusters rather loose; 
calyx about half as long as the corolla-tube, its 
segments hispid; corolla bluish-purple. 
Waste grounds, Massachusetts to Maryland. Ad- 
ventive or naturalized from Europe. June-Aug. 
15. BORAGO [Tourn.] L. Sp. Pl. 137. 1753.: 
Hirsute or hispid annual or biennial branching herbs, with alternate entire leaves, and 
showy blue flowers, in terminal loose leafy racemes. 
Calyx deeply 5-cleft or 5-parted. 
Corolla rotate, the tube very short, the throat closed by scales, the limb 5-lobed, the lobes 
imbricated, acute. Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla-tube; filaments dilated below, narrowed 
above into a slender appendage; anthers linear, erect, and connivent into a cone. Ovary 
4-divided; style filiform. Nutlets 4, ovoid, erect, attached by their bases to the flat receptacle, 
the scar of attachment large, concave. [Middle Latin, burra, rough hair, alluding to the 
foliage. ] 
Three species, natives of the Mediterranean region, the following typical. 
