rough comfrey (prickly comfrey)
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Photograph
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a thick taproot; stems branched, not winged, 0.3-1.2 m tall; stem and inflorescence with coarse, spreading, bristly hairs.
Leaves:
Basal leaves stalked, large, the blades elliptic to egg-shaped or narrowly egg-shaped, heart-shaped or rounded at the base, 15-20 cm long and 5-10 cm wide; stem leaves ample, gradually becoming smaller and shorter-stalked upward, with long-tapering, pointed tips, with coarse bristly hairs on both surfaces, entire, alternate.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of several to many small, coiled, bractless clusters; corollas blue (pink in bud), tubular bell-shaped, 1-1.5 cm long; petals fused at base into a tube that flares at top to bell-shaped limb (longer than tube) and 5 lobes, the lobe tips erect, the throat with 5 narrow, hairy bulges; calyx teeth blunt-tipped.
Fruits:
Nutlets 4, clustered together, curved inward, granular, finely wrinkled.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
570 | 570 | 570 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
30 | 30 | 30 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
245 | 246 | 246 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 3 | 3 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
1 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
BWBS | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BWBS(1) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Wet to mesic roadsides and waste places in the lowland, steppe and lower montane zones; rare in S BC, infrequent northward; introduced from Europe.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Symphytum asperrimum Donn ex Sims
Taxonomic Keys
1. Stems not winged; corolla lobes erect.....................S. asperum
1. Stems winged from ridges that run down the stem from the leaf base; corolla lobes recurved at tip 2. Corollas cream, sometimes purplish; nutlets smooth, shining.....................S. officinale 2. Corollas blue or purplish-blue; nutlets wrinkled, more or less dull....................S. x uplandicum Source: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Volume 2 (Douglas et al. 1998). |