586 



THE BORAGE FAMILY. 



VIII. COMFREY. SYMPHYTUM. 



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 terminating 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 winged by the 



decurrent base of the leaves 1. Common C. 



Stem simple, about a foot high. Leaves stalked or scarcely 



decurrent 2. Tuberous C. 



1. Common Comfrey. Symphytum officinale, Linn. 

 (Kg. 700.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 817.) 



Hootstock thick, with stout, erect, 

 branching, annual stems, 2 or 3 feet 

 high. Leaves broadly lanceolate, often 

 8 or 9 inches long or more, tapering in- 

 to 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, one-sided racemes. Flowers 

 all pedicellate, 3 lines long, either pale- 

 yellow or dark dingy-purple. 



On moist banks, the borders of mea- 

 dows, etc., in Europe and western 

 Asia, extending northward into south- 

 ern Scandinavia. Frequent in Eng- 

 land and Ireland but less so in Scot- 

 land, and not found to the north of 

 Aberdeen or Glasgow. Fl. spring and summer. 



Fig. 700. 



