Creeping Comfrey
Creeping Comfrey, churchyard, Dorset
On a shaded bank
Flower spikes, deeply cut sepals
Early flower spike
Styles and scales inside corollas
Styles remaining after petal drop
Stalked leaves
Leaf insertion
Symphytum grandiflorum
Boraginaceae
March to September (early February in 2020)
It is thinly scattered throughout the country, but is more
common in the South.
See the BSBI distribution map for Creeping Comfrey
It is a neophyte, which was introduced from the
Caucuses in the late 19th Century and has been used
as ground cover under trees ever since.
It is an aggressive coloniser and is often thrown out
from gardens.
It has been recognised as a naturalised escape since
1900.
It is found in shaded habitats such as woods, hedges,
banks and churchyards, and beside rivers.
It is on the increase.
The pictures shown are from Netherbury in West Dorset
where Creeping Comfrey is spreading in the churchyard
and on nearby shaded banks.
Creeping Comfrey is a low-growing, carpet-forming,
stoloniferous and rhizomatous, perennial herb, growing
up to 20cm.
Flowers are in one-sided spikes, deep pink at first, then
bluish and finally creamy white.
The scales are slightly longer than the stamens.
The calyx teeth are deeply cut.
Leaves are inserted onto the stem but do not
conspicuously run down it.
Previous page: Cowslip
Next page: Cuckooflower
Creeping Comfrey, churchyard, Dorset
On a shaded bank
Flower spikes, deeply cut sepals
Early flower spike
Styles and scales inside corollas
Styles remaining after petal drop
Stalked leaves
Leaf insertion
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