John Clayton
Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society’s
Wildflower
Spot– May 2009
WILD COMFREY
Cynoglossum virginianum
Wild comfrey is a rough, hairy
perennial growing to 2 feet tall. The flower looks like a
Forget-me-not, but it has large leaves which clasp the hairy
stem. The leaves at the base are large and grow from the
stem. The pale blue flowers have 5 corolla lobes and grow
in clusters at the end of a stalk. This species is often
abundant in moist woods in spring, following earlier blooming
plants like the golden ragwort and violets.
This plant grows in upland woods
from Connecticut to Oklahoma and south to Florida and Louisiana,
and most of eastern United States and Canada. Wild comfrey
blooms April-May in our area and its fruits (bristly nutlets)
mature in the summer.
“Cynoglossum” was named from the
Greek cynos, “of a dog”, and glossa, “tongue”,
from the shape and texture of the leaves. Cherokee used the root
tea for “bad memory”, cancer, itching of genitals and milky
urine. Later, the leaves have been used as tobacco.
For more information about native plants visit
www.claytonvnps.org.
By Helen Hamilton,
president of the John Clayton Chapter, VNPS
Photo:
Wild Comfrey (Cynoglossum virginianum) taken by Helen
Hamilton
