No relation to : Jacob's-Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) a flower with similar name belonging to a differing family.

Easily mistaken for : Russian Comfrey (Symphitum × uplandicum which also has purple to blue flowers and a long protruding stigma, but lacks the five bunched stamens (similar to those of Borage (Borago officinalis). However, when the flowers are open, the petals unlike Borage are curled and almost linear. It is also known as Oriental Borage.

Some similarities to : Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) which also has five long bunched protruding stamens (but they are yellow rather than lilac) and five purple petals (but they are tapered rather than linear). Some other plants of the Nightshade Family (Solanaceae) also have bunched stamens, such as Duke-of-Argyll's Teaplant (Lycium barbarum) and Potato (Solanum tuberosum).

Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature :

This is an alien ornamental garden plant that has been introduced and then naturalised into the surrounding countryside in scattered locations in the UK with a slight predisposition for the South especially around the Home Counties. It was first introduced to the UK in 1868 and is a perennial that grows and spreads vigorously in damp woodland and shady banks to cover the ground at the exclusion of most other plants. It alone occupies the Trachystemon genus (in the UK).

It grows natively in Bulgaria, Georgia and in Turkey where it is eaten as a vegetable after cooking in boiling water, both rhizome, stems, leaves and flowers. It blooms early in spring. There may be small quantities of poisonous pyrrolizidine alkaloids present, like there are in most plants belonging to the Borage Family. If the striking blue colour of the petals is due to the same dye (Thesinine) in the related Borage, then the dye, a pyrrolizidine alkaloid, is non-toxic in this case, but that does not mean there are not other toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids present.

Trachystemon is derived from the Greek: Trachys meaning rough and stemon referring to the prominent stamens.