The Collaborative International Dictionary
Comfrey \Com"frey\, n. [Prob. from F. conferve, L. conferva, fr. confervere to boil together, in medical language, to heal, grow together. So called on account of its healing power, for which reason it was also called consolid
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] (Bot.) A rough, hairy, perennial plant of several species, of the genus Symphytum.
Note: A decoction of the mucilaginous root of the ``common comfrey'' ( Symphytum officinale) is used in cough mixtures, etc.; and the gigantic ``prickly comfrey'' ( Symphytum asperrimum) is somewhat cultivated as a forage plant.
Wikipedia
Symphytum officinale is a perennial flowering plant of the genus Symphytum in the family Boraginaceae. Along with thirty four other species of Symphytum, it is known as comfrey. To differentiate it from other members of the genus Symphytum, this species is known as common comfrey or true comfrey. Other English names include Quaker comfrey, cultivated comfrey, boneset, knitbone, consound, and slippery-root. It is native to Europe and it is known elsewhere, including North America, as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. The flowers are mostly visited by bumblebees.
Usage examples of "symphytum officinale".
Helenium (Elecampane), the leaves of which resemble Foxglove leaves, though they are less pointed, and the lower lateral veins do not form a 'wing' as in the Foxglove, the leaves of Symphytum officinale (Comfrey), which, however, may be recognized by the isolated stiff hairs they bear, and Verbascum Thapsus (Great Mullein), the leaves of which, unlike those of the Foxglove, have woolly upper and under surfaces, and the hairs of which, examined under a lens, are seen to be branched.
The creamy yellow-flowered form is stated by Hooker to be Symphytum officinale proper, and the purple flowered he considered a variety and named it S.