Symphytum officinale L.
comfrey
Plants to c. 100 cm tall, with most vegetative parts strongly hispid. Roots becoming very thick. Basal lvs with lamina very large, ovate to ovatelanceolate, densely hispid above and below, but not harshly scabrid, often some hairs with bulbous bases but never predominantly so; cauline lvs smaller, mostly 3-4 mm wide, decurrent down stem to internode below, with petiole broadly winged, the upper sessile. Cymes densely hispid. Calyx 5-8 mm long, lobed to c. 3/4 length; lobes linear-lanceolate, ± shortly acuminate. Corolla 12-16 mm long, usually pale pink in upper 1/2, occasionally creamy white, purplish when dry; scales narrow-triangular. Filaments ± as wide as anthers; anthers usually projecting well beyond scales. Nutlets smooth.
N.: Auckland; S.: Christchurch, near Timaru and near Hokitika.
Europe, W. Asia 1922
A rare garden escape, mainly on roadsides near settlements.
FL Nov-Feb.
Nutlets have not been seen on N.Z. plants. Some plants with the broadly winged stem, acuminate calyx lobes, and the pale corolla colour of S. officinale are referred to the S. ֵplandicum complex because of the harshly scabrid Ivs with an abundance of bulbousbased hairs which characterise the other parent, S. asperum. S. officinale is never harshly scabrid.
