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petals
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17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Grows to 50cm, usually found in or near gardens, as here. |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Floppily upright stems flowering stems. Flowers droop mostly downwards when opened. |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowers that, when open, are pale-blue on the narrow part of the corolla and white on the wider open part (petals). |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowering spike is coiled up like a catherine wheel, slowly unrolling with the outermost flowers opening first, others following in their turn. Un-opened flowers are scarlet red, becoming pink/red, then mauvish. Flowers that have lost the corolla tube altogether have just a single long white stamen sticking prominently out (top). |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Un-opened flowers are scarlet red, becoming pink/red, then mauvish. |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Sepal tube beetroot coloured with long and un-pointed teeth. Stems and sepals have very short stubby hairs. Five mostly fusedpetals apart from at the periphery where there is a small nick. |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves mostly have stems. |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaf stems not or hardly running down the side of the main stem they come from (decurrent), a characteristic of many, but not all Comfreys. |
17th April 2009, Helsington Church, Kendal, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves have net veins. Older leaves slightly larger and slightly heart-shaped joining the stem at a hyper-abrupt 100 - 120° angle, younger ones, as here, joining the stem at an abrupt angle of about 70° - 90°. Never joins the stem at a slow taper. |
Not to be semantically confused with : Symphoricarpos [the Genus for Snowberrys which has a similar name]
Is the Hybrid between :
Many similarities to :
Easily mistaken for : You are most likely to come across this plant either in gardens, or nearby just outside where it has just escaped. A popular garden flower. Other cultivars exist. |
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× hidcotense ![]() |
⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Boraginaceae ![]() |
![]() Symphytum (Comfreys) |
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