284 PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Borago. 
S. officina'le. Leaves egg-shaped, very decurrenl. 
Ludw. 80— Kniph. 1— Curt. 230 —(j E. Bot. 817. E.)— Woodv. 215— FI. Dan. 
664— Blackw. 252— Mattli. 961— Dod. 134. 1— Lob. Obs. 315. 1— Ger. 
Em. 806. 1— Park. 523. 1— Ger. 660. 1 and 2— II. Ox. xi. 29. row 1. 1— 
Pet. 29. 5— Fuchs. 695— Trag. 240— J. B. iii. 593. 
(Clusters growing in pairs, hirsute, forked at the base, revolute. E.) Calyx 
close. Blossom yellow white, tube as long as the calyx. Valves spear- 
shaped, flat, covering the anthers; edge studded with small shining 
glands. (Root black on the outside. Stem three feet high. E.) 
Var. 2. (Flore purpureo. E.) Red-flowered. Calyx expanding, shorter 
than the tube of the blossom. 
Kniph l.f. 2. 
S. patens. Sibth. FI. Ox. Frequently found growing with the preceding, 
and flowering at the same time. 
Common Comfrey. (Irish: Luss na Knau brisdi. E.) Banks of rivers 
and wet ditches. P. May—June.* 
S. tubero'sum. Leaves slightly decurrent; the uppermost opposite. 
Jacq. Austr. 225— Obs. 63— (E. Bot. 1502. E.)— Kniph. 1— Clus. ii. 166. 2 
— Ger. Em. 806. 3— II. Ox. xi. 29. row 1. 3— J. B. iii. 594. 
Possibly a variety of S. officinale. Boot white, and not black on the outside 
as that of the preceding. Linn. Root tuberous. Blossom yellow white. 
(Leaves egg-shaped. Stems shorter than in the preceding, simple, or 
only slightly branched towards the top. E.) 
Tuberous-rooted Comfrey. Apparently wild, though suspected origi¬ 
nally to have escaped from the garden. Fen Banks, Lincolnshire; and 
Cambridgeshire, intermixed with S. officinale. Woodward. (Opposite 
Ihe new well (St. Bernard’s,) at the Water of Leith, but more plentifully 
in Dr. Robertson’s walks at North Marchiston, near Edinburgh. Mr. 
Yalden. Collington woods, Woodhall, &c. Common about Glasgow, 
as banks of the Clyde, Daldowie, Bothwell, and Hamilton. Hooker. 
Very plentiful in a hedge near the Parsonage at Slinfold, Sussex. Mr. 
Borrer, in Bot. Guide. P. June—July. E.) 
BORA'GQ. Bloss. wheel-shaped; mouth closed with rays: 
Nuts four, imperforate. 
B. officina'lis. All the leaves alternate; calyx expanding. 
Kniph. 3— Ludw. 3— Fuchs. 142— Dod. 627. 1— Woodv. 217— E. Bot. 36— 
Ger. Em. 797. 2— J. B. iii. 574— Blackw. 36— Matth. 1186— Trag. 237 
— Ger. 623. 2 and 11— H. Ox. xi. 26. 1, on the left — Lob. Obs. 309. 2—■ 
Ger. Em. 797. 1. 
(Stems branched, one to two feet high. E.) Fruit-stalks terminal, support¬ 
ing several drooping bunches of flowers. Blossom blue, white, or flesh- 
coloured. W^hole plant rough with numerous white prickly hairs, and 
* The particles of the pollen appear in the microscope as two globules united together. 
The leaves give a grateful flavour to cakes and panada, and the young stems and leaves are 
excellent when boiled. The roots are glutinous and mucilaginous, (hence recommended 
in catarrhal affections : E.) and a decoction of them is used by dyers to extract the colour¬ 
ing matter of gum lac. Cows and sheep eat it. Horses, goats, and swine refuse it. 
Linn. 
