314 THE BORAGE FAMILY. 
annual, covered with very stiff hairs. Stems procumbent at the base, 
branched, 1 to 2 feet long. Leaves lanceolate or oblong-linear, waved 
on the edges, and often toothed ; the lower ones often stalked, the 
upper ones sessile or stem- clasping. Flowers in simple or forked, ter- 
minal, l-sided spikes. Calyx deeply 5-cleft, and nuts wrinkled as in 
Anchusa. Corolla pale blue, with the tube always curved in the middle. 
A common European and north Asiatic weed of cultivation, carried 
out with European crops to North America, and other parts of the 
world. Extends all over Britain. /l. summer. 
VIII. SYMPHYTUM. COMFREY. 
Rough, hairy perennials, with yellow or purple drooping flowers, in 
short, terminal, forked cymes, and no bracts under the pedicels. 
Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla tubular, but enlarged above the middle, 
where it is closed inside by 5 lanceolate scales, and terminates in 5 
very small spreading teeth or lobes. Stamens shorter than the corolla. 
Nuts ovoid, smooth, attached by their base. 
The genus contains but few species, nearly resembling each other, 
and extends over Europe and northern Asia. 
Stem 2 or 3 feet high, branched, more or less aii by the de- 
current base of the leaves 1. S. officinale. 
Stem simple, about a foot high, Leaves stalked or scarcely de- 
current . . 2. S. tuberosum. 
1. S. officinale, Linn. (fic. 707). Crane C. | “Reetete thick, with 
stout, erect, branching, annual stems, 2 or 3 feet high. Leaves broadly 
lanceolate, often 8 or 9 inches long or more, tapering into a long point, 
and rough with short, stiff hairs; the lower ones stalked, the upper 
ones sessile and decurrent along the stem to the next leaf below or even 
lower down. Flower cymes stalked above the last leaf, once or seldom 
twice forked; the branches forming short, 1-sided racemes, Flowers 
all pedicellate, 3 lines long, either pale yellow or a dark dingy-purple. 
On moist banks, the borders of meadows, &c., in Europe and western 
Asia, extending northward into southern Scandinavia. Frequent in 
England and Ireland, but less so in Scotland, and not wild north of 
Aberdeen or Glasgow. J. spring and summer. 
2. S. tuberosum, Linn. (fig. 708). Zuberous C.—A much smaller 
plant than the common species, seldom above a foot high, and not 
branched. ‘The rootstock forms a short woody tuber. Leaves mostly 
ovate and stalked; the upper ones nearly sessile, and very slightly 
decurrent. Cymes small and few-flowered, the flowers themselves 
about the size of those of C. officinale. : 
In woods, and on shady banks, in central and southern Europe, but 
scarcely extending into northern Germany. In Britain, not found 
south of North Wales and Bedford, being more frequent in southern 
Scotland than in England ; absent from Ireland. Fl. summer. 
IX. BORAGO. BORAGE. 
Rough, hairy annuals or biennials, with blue flowers in loose forked — 
cymes. Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla rotate; the tube exceedingly 
