Symphytum officinale

Plant Characteristics

Habit		herbaceous
Height:	⇕	5 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 5.
Width:	⇔	6 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 6.
Bloom:	❀	early spring, mid spring, late spring, early summer, mid summer, late summer

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun, shade
Features:	✓	flowers, birds
USDA Zones:		3 to 9
Flower features:	❀	red, pink

Scientific Names

Boraginaceae >

Symphytum >

officinale >

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale L.) is a perennial herb of the family Boraginaceae with a black, turnip-like root and large, hairy broad leaves that bears small bell-shaped white, cream, light purple or pink flowers. It is native to Europe, growing in damp, grassy places, and is widespread throughout Ireland and Britain on river banks and ditches. Comfrey has long been recognised by both organic gardeners and herbalists for its great usefulness and versatility; of particular interest is the “Bocking 14” cultivar of Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum).

Read about Symphytum officinale in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Symphytum officinale, Linn. (S. bohemicum, F. W. Schmidt). Perennial, about 3 ft. high: root thick: st. branched, white-pilose: lvs. slightly pilose, basal and lower cauline ovate - lanceolate, upper oblong-lanceolate, all broadly decurrent at base: fls. white, yellowish, purple, or rose, in drooping cymes. Eu., Asia. Var. argenteum, Hort., is offered in the trade as growing 2 ft. high, with silver-variegated foliage and drooping blue fls. Var. aureum, Hort., is offered in the trade as a golden variegated form growing 2 ft. high. Var. coccineum, Hort. (S. coccineum, Hort., ex Schlecht.), is offered in the trade as a scarlet-fld. form. Var. lilacinum, Hort., is offered in the trade. Var. purpureum, Pers. (S. officinale var. bohemicum, Don), has reddish purple fls. Eu. Var. variegatum, Hort., has lvs. widely margined with creamy white. F.S. 18:1901-1902. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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