Flora of New Zealand Series

Russian comfrey

Herb forming large clumps, scabrid or stongly hispid; stems to c. 100 cm tall, purplish at base. Root becoming very thick. Basal lvs very large; lamina ovate, ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, to c. 30 × 12 cm (often much smaller); upper surface especially harshly hispid with few to many bulbous-based hairs; base attenuate to form petiolar wing; cauline lvs much smaller, the uppermost sessile with base continued down stem as a narrow wing; wing usually < 2 mm wide, extending to at least 1/2 way to node below. Cymes densely hispid. Calyx 4-8 mm long at anthesis, ± accrescent, lobed nearly to base; lobes linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute to short-acuminate. Corolla (1)-1.3-1.7 × 0.6-1 cm, broadly cylindric, lower part of tube whitish, expanded upper part and lobes pink to light purple, often becoming blue or purplish blue with age and when dried, glandular-puberulent outside; lobes c. 1 mm long; scales included, ± narrow-triangular. Filaments (excluding base) < to almost = anther width; anthers slightly to obviously < scales. Style exserted, sometimes very shortly so. Nutlets 3-6 mm long, finely granular and rugose.

N.; S.; St.

Europe 1981

Escape from cultivation, large clumps often occurring along roadsides and in waste places around settlements.

FL Nov-Apr.

The sp. is illustrated in Fig. 43. Most or all of the colonies have arisen by vegetative reproduction and nutlets are rarely formed; often the initial plants originate from pieces of the thick roots thrown out from gardens. As in parts of Europe, Russian comfrey in N.Z. is now commoner than either of its parents, S. asperum and S. officinale. The situation here is similar to that described for the British Isles [Clapham, Tutin and Warburg (1962)] in that there is considerable variation in S. ×uplandicum, with plants showing various combinations of characters. Thus, it is usually difficult to find plants which can be attributed with confidence to either parent, particularly to S. officinale. Almost certainly, most of the plants introduced to N.Z. were hybrids, because there is no evidence that hybridisation has occurred here. Russian comfrey is the main comfrey used in herbal teas and medicines in N.Z. It is often known as S. ×peregrinum.