Symphytum x uplandicum Russian Comfrey (S. asperum x officinale)

A bristly-hairy, robust perennial with elegant drooping, tubular purple, violet or pink-purple flowers. It grows on verges, banks, roadsides and waste places where established, clonal  colonies can be quite large. It was introduced to Britain in the late 18th Century and first recorded wild in Britain in 1861. It is widespread throughout Britain and much of Ireland and it is now our most common comfrey. It is frequently confused with and misidentified for Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) which usually has cream coloured flowers and associated mostly with riverside and other water course habitats. The degree to which the leaf bases are decurrent to form wings on the stem is often given as a differentiating character for separating these two comfreys. Unfortunately, this character is very variable in Russian Comfrey and sometimes difficult to interpret. Like other Symphytum species, Russian Comfrey contains a diversity of interesting phytochemicals including pyrrolizidine alkaloids which are rather toxic.

Neophyte