White alkanet

At reference 1, I mentioned a white alkanet, which turned out to be non-existent. This morning, passing it again, I remembered to take its picture, included above. It does not really come out in the snap, but I am fairly sure that the flowers are going to be white.

Google Images first guess is common comfrey, with the catch here being that common comfrey usually has purple flowers and the leaves are longer and more pointed than those above. Nevertheless, comfrey rings some kind of vague bell and I go to reference 2, where I find white comfrey, Symphytum orientale. Wikipedia not terribly helpful on this occasion only adding that its native range is Turkey, Ukraine to Caucasus. Or eastern Black Sea littoral. But range apart, the pictures at references 3 and 4 looked quite promising.

Bentham & Hooker (reference 8) not terribly helpful on this occasion either, at least not at first look. It only really bothers with Symphytum officinale (common comfrey) and Symphytum tuberosum. With the flowers of the former being yellow or a dingy purple. Part of the large borage family.

I have another go with Google Images, with a zoomed in version of the snap above, which sticks with common comfrey, but now includes white comfrey a bit further down the list - which includes lots of plants with vaguely similar leaves. I am reminded that botanists go in for stuff like counting petals and stamens, which is much more reliable.

Then I remembered about coming across something similar in April last year and turn up reference 5, snap reproduced above, identified by Google Images at that time as Symphytum tuberosum. Next stop Gemini to see what he says about the difference between Symphytum tuberosum and Symphytum orientale. With one difference being that the leaves of the former get smaller as one goes up the plant - which fits the snap above.

Gemini also talks of the former being a low mound and the latter a clump. When pressed, he explains what he means by the difference - which also fits the snap above. On the down side, on the snap which he uses to illustrate his reply, Symphytum tuberosum looks to have long, narrow pointed leaves, which is not what I have here. I might also say, that I think that some of the identifications turned up by Bing and Google are mistaken and I suppose that it would be surprising if there were no mistakes. All those sloppy amateurs posting rather than thinking...

Going back to Bentham & Hooker, I find that he talks of the upper leaves of Symphytum tuberosum being nearly sessile and slightly decurrent - terms which he explains in the glossary at the front of the book. But I am not sure about this from my snaps: I think I will have to go back to the plants to check properly.

The snap above puts today with last April side by side. Where I am fairly confident that April right is indeed Symphytum tuberosum.

For the moment, on the basis of shape of leaf and shape of plant, I am going to go with Symphytum orientale for March left. Stronger identification for the second snap than the first snap, but the plants are only a few hundred yards apart and I can always keep an eye on them both in the weeks to come. Maybe comparing the flower colours will help. I could even take a magnifying glass with me to do real botanical stuff.

PS 1: I am slipping from testing Gemini to using it - which is not really good enough. But the story today was quite convincing - and quite hard to test from the keyboard.

PS 2: at least the picture archive works. I was able to recover the original of the second snap without any fuss.

PS 3: both reference 6 (the root of refence 3) and reference 7 (the root of reference 4) look to be serious resources. Must try and get more value out of them on these occasions.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/03/brick-time.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphytum.

Reference 3: https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/C/Comfrey(White)/Comfrey(White).htm.

Reference 4: http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/white-comfrey.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/04/trolley-563.html.

Reference 6: https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/.

Reference 7: http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/.

Reference 8: Handbook of the British Flora: A description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalised in the British Isles, for the use of amateurs and beginners - Bentham, Hooker, Rendle - fourth edition of 1886 to the fifth reprint of the seventh edition of 1954. FRSs all. Once a school prize, from the Raynes Park platform library, in 2021. Plus Fitch's illustrations. Before the invention of television there must have been plenty of people going in for this sort of thing!

Reference 9: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/08/cheese-time-again.html. The acquisition of Bentham & Hooker.