In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| I think it is the Comfrey, Nick. I looked at photos of the two side by side
| and the one Malisobel has looks like what we have here and call Comfrey. We
| just dig masses of it out at a time because it does, indeed, spread like
| wildfire. The enchanter's nightshade - v. pretty! - seems to have a whiter
| and more open flower that doesn't droop into such closed bells as Comfrey
| does.

Boggle. If it is the common comfrey, it will have BIG leaves (20-50 cm
long), and large, fleshy roots; it also doesn't root run, and spreads
by seed. I am not familiar with the other comfreys, but CTW says that
they all have fleshy or tuberous roots. Enchanter's nightshade doesn't.

Of course, it is quite possible that different parts of the country
call different plants "comfrey" - and, as I said, there are comfreys
with which I am not familiar :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The plant usually known as Enchanter's Nightshade is Circaea lutetiana,
which grows in shady places in woods (it took me years to identify
this). This belongs to the Onagraceae. It is not what is shown in the
photograph.

The photograph shows what I would identify as a Symphytum (aka Comfrey),
but I haven't trained myself to recognise the different forms (and the
photograph doesn't seem to be one of the common forms).

I'd assumed, from observation in various gardens, that comfrey did run
at the root, but Google tells me otherwise. Some comfreys don't seed,
and are propagated by division or root cuttings.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley