Common, Russian and Rough Comfreys
Symphytum officinale L.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 61 cm
- wide
- 50 cm
Boraginaceae
Also called Common Comfrey complex, Boneset, Common comfrey, Consound, Cultivated comfrey
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- PerennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Europe to W. Siberia and NW. TürkiyeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 30 cm to 91 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 23 cm to 76 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, pink, purpleRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -34.4 °C (USDA zone 4a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- German
- Artengruppe Echter Beinwell, Beinwell, Wallwurz
- Hungarian
- orvosi nadálytő, Fekete nadálytő
- Romanian
- Tătăneasă
- Chinese (China)
- 聚合草
- Dutch
- Smeerwortel-complex, gewone smeerwortel, Gewone smeerwortel
- Portuguese
- Confrei, Consolda
- Quechua
- Una llunku
- Russian
- Окопник лекарственный
- Slovak
- kostihoj lekársky
- Slovenian
- Navadni gabez
- Serbian (Cyrillic)
- Гавез
- Serbian (Latin)
- Gavez
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY 2.5
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- 3D model: Symphytum officinale (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.