Prickly comfrey (Symphytum asperum)

Synonyms: Symphytum asperrimum

Common Names: Consoude apre, rough comfrey

Description: Cultivated for its medicinal properties as well as an ornamental.

Habit: Coarse, hairy, rhizomatous perennial that can reach a height of 3-4 feet tall.

Leaves: Ovate to elliptic, alternate, narrow stalked, 2-8 inches long, dark green in color, covered with prickly hairs.

Stems: Not winged, reaching a height of 3-4 feet.

Flowers: Tubular, 0.50 inch long, borne in scorpioid cymes, rose pink becoming blue or purple in color. Bloom from May to August.

Fruit and seeds: 4-parted schizocarp, oblique, ridged.

Habitat: Native from Russia to Iran. Can be found in gardens, roadsides and yards.

Reproduction: By seed or vegetatively by root cuttings or division.

Monitoring and rapid response: Can be difficult to remove by digging due to root fragments having the ability to sprout new plants.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Missouri Botanica Garden and NatureGate.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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