Symphytum x uplandicum — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Vegetable

Young leaves are cooked and used in soups or liquidized as a drink. Dried leaves are brewed as tea or ground into powder for use in gravies, soups, and stews. It is commercially cultivated as a vegetable.

Dangerous Lookalikes

This plant can be confused with the following toxic species. Always verify identification carefully before consuming any wild plant.

DEADLY

Foxglove

Digitalis purpurea

SAFE

Comfrey

Symphytum x uplandicum

Foxglove: Soft velvety hairy leaves, tall spike of tubular purple/pink spotted flowers, leaves feel like soft felt.

Comfrey: Rough/bristly hairy leaves, purple/blue drooping bell flowers, leaves feel like sandpaper.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. It suits hardiness zones 3-9. Tasmania Herbarium.

Australia, Britain, Canada, Caucasus, Cook Islands, Europe, Luxembourg, North America, Pacific, Russia, Slovenia, Tasmania,

Countries: Andorra, Antigua & Barbuda, Albania, Austria, Australia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bahamas, Belarus, Belize, Canada, Switzerland, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Fiji, Micronesia, France, United Kingdom, Grenada, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Croatia, Haiti, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Kiribati, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Monaco, Moldova, Montenegro, Marshall Islands, North Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Norway, Nauru, New Zealand, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Palau, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Solomon Islands, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, San Marino, El Salvador, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United States, St Vincent, Vanuatu, Samoa

How to Identify

A herb. It grows 1.8 m high and spreads 1.2 m wide. It has thick rhizomes. It has bristles. The flowers are red-purple. They occur in large clusters. It is a natural hybrid.

Other Information

It is a commercially cultivated vegetable.

Notes

There are about 25 Symphytum species.

Names & Synonyms

švedski gabez

Symphytum asperum x Symphytum officinaleSymphytum peregrinum

References (10)

Curtis, W.M., 1993, The Student's Flora of Tasmania. Part 3 St David's Park Publishing, Tasmania, p 491
Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 52
Hibbert, M., 2002, The Aussie Plant Finder 2002, Florilegium. p 295
http://www.botanic-gardens-ljubljana.com/en/plants
Jackes, D. A., 2007, Edible Forest Gardens
Kays, S. J., and Dias, J. C. S., 1995, Common Names of Commercially Cultivated Vegetables of the World in 15 languages. Economic Botany, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 115-152
Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
Syll. fl. Eur. 80. 1855
Tasmanian Herbarium Vascular Plants list p 16
http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org