A member of the Borage family, comfrey's relatives include both borage (Borago sp.) and heliotrope (Heliotropium sp.). Comfrey has large, rough, hairy, and lance-shaped leaves with whitish, pink, or purple flower spikes which have a slight heliotrope like curl typical of this family. It is native to much of Europe, and various regions in Asia such as the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Siberia, and Turkey, and is commonly found as a weed in temperate northern latitudes. The common name 'comfrey' is derived from the Latin 'con firma' alluding to this plants purported use of knitting bones back together, and the Greek word 'symphyo' which is the root of the generic name, Symphytum also meaning 'to unite.'