This tall, harsh-leaved plant is to be found all over the country in
moist places, by the sides of streams and ditches, and by the roadside.
It blooms in spring and autumn.
The flowers of the Common Comfrey are not always the same colour.
Sometimes you find them pale yellow, and in other places they are a rich
purple, and the buds are pink. These flowers grow in drooping clusters
on short little stalks which curve in a curious serpent manner before
the buds open.
The five petals joined together form a bell, which is cut into deep
teeth at the edge. Within this bell, there are five stamens clinging to
the sides, and from the seed-vessel, a long, slender white thread rises.
You can see this white thread best after the yellow bell is withered,
and the seed-vessel is left sitting in the centre of the calyx. The
green calyx-cup is very shallow, with fine, sharply pointed teeth round
the mouth.
The stem of the Comfrey is covered with hard, rough hairs. It has ridges
running from top to bottom, and it is hollow in the middle. The leaves
on the stem grow in tufts of three or four, without any stalks. They are
narrow and pointed, with wavy edges, and are covered with hairs.
Many other coarse leaves rise from the root. These leaves, too, have no
stalks, and they are broad and hairy.