''Andersonglossum boreale'', known as northern wild comfrey or just wild comfrey, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the borage family,

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the Borago, borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees, and herbs in 146 to 154 genus, genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single famil ...

. It is

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to boreal coniferous and mixed forests in North America, from

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and

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

in Canada, south to

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and

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in the United States. It is often found in rocky or sandy soils. It is

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

(locally extinct) from many of the southern parts of its range.

Description

Northern wild comfrey is a small, perennial herbaceous plant growing up to tall. The oval-shaped leaves are broader at the base of the plant, growing long and wide with short petioles. The upper leaves clasp the stem. A branching inflorescence is produced at the top of the plant, with several, small, five-petaled blue flowers. The fruit is a bristly nutlet.

Taxonomy

Northern wild comfrey was originally described as ''Cynoglossum boreale'' Fernald in 1905. It has since been treated as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

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of '' Cynoglossum virginianum'' (now ''Andersonglossum virginanum''), a more southerly species, but re-elevated to species as '' Andersonglossum boreale''. Its first description as ''A. boreale'' in 2015 was invalid per the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

(ICN, Article 36), as the author had created the new combination but did not personally accept it as a species distinct from ''A. virginianum'': A 2017 study by the same author, with Pedro Jiménez-Mejías and

Robert F. C. Naczi The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, compared the morphology of digitized herbarium specimens and confirmed its distinctness from ''Andersonglossum virginianum'', validating the name ''Andersonglossum boreale''. The study found that ''A. boreale'' has a shorter calyx length, smaller corolla diameter, and smaller nutlets.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q42964360, from2=Q58380403 Boraginaceae Plants described in 1905 Flora of Canada Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the North-Central United States