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Symphytum tuberosum
Tuberous comfrey is a hardy perennial woodland and hedgerow plant from Europe, grown for its spring flowers and as a traditional herbal plant. It spreads by fleshy tubers, so it is best given space or a container.
Symphytum tuberosum, the tuberous comfrey, is a species of Symphytum in the family Boraginaceae.
Symphytum tuberosum can be found throughout Europe. In Great Britain it is naturally less common in the south, and distribution maps show the species to be common in Scotland and present, but uncommon, throughout much of England and Wales.
Vernacular common names such as 'knitbone' reveal the healing role that tuberous comfrey and the various hybrid comfreys have played in herbal medicine throughout the ages. In these traditional cures, the recipes make use of the leaves & roots, the former being used to speed up the healing of minor abrasions through their being applied directly to the damaged skin under a compress.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Symphytum tuberosum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
