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I found the below pictured plant not far from my home. I'm wondering whether this a comfrey variant or not.

My reasons for assuming it it:

  1. I found it in damp but sunny place close to a hedge
  2. The flower form and flower stem and arrangement looks like it
  3. Height matches as well

My reasons for having doubts:

  1. The leaves are not looking like the reference I find on the net
  2. The stems are not hairy.

(Sorry for the low quality of the photos - click for a larger version)

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Nope, its not a comfrey. It appears to be wild mallow, Malva sylvestris, commonly known by all sorts of names in the UK - common mallow being one of them. Weed plant, pops up on its own. I can't see inside the flower, but it should be striped with a deeper pink to some degree. It usually grows fairly upright, but can be flattened by heavy rain or being caught up in the undergrowth (in this case, grass) or by animals.

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  • What a pity! I'm in (desperate) search for some comfrey to create an additional fertilizer for my(already cooked) nettle-tea.
    – Patrick B.
    Jun 5 '14 at 16:31
  • @PatrickB. got plenty of it here in the garden, can't get rid of the stuff - buy a couple of plants, after a year you'll have loads, it spreads quite a bit.
    – Bamboo
    Jun 5 '14 at 19:56
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    Heh, loads. We have it planted under every fruit tree, just harvested two wheelbarrow loads. Despite the butchery, it will be back just as high in about 3 months. Probably ticked the local bee population off, but they've got other more important stuff to pollinate at the moment.
    – Fiasco Labs
    Jun 6 '14 at 3:00

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