Also known as Soft Comfrey, this is an erect, downy perennial which grows to 70 cm tall and is little-branched. It has snow-white, bell-like flowers (15–17 mm) in dense cymes, the calyx tubes divided less than half-way to their bases. The ovate, pale green leaves have heart-shaped bases and the lower leaves are stalked. In flower during April and May, it is an introduced species – from south-east Asia – which grows in hedge banks and waste ground; however this particular species of Comfrey is only rarely found in Ireland. It belongs to the Boraginaceae family.
My earliest record of this plant is in Dalkey, County Dublin in 1979 and I photographed it there in 2008.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
