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dondown Saint Leolin, Canada Jul 24, 2015

Could you show me and describe to me the differences between a FOXGLOVE and a COMFREY and is it possible to mistake one for the other?

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sallyg Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b) Jul 24, 2015

I don't have a picture of each to show. Yes, the young plants in rosette stage would be a bit tricky. TO me, comfrey is pricklier and foxglove softer, velvety. Comfrey more dark green, foxglove lighter, with whiteness on the midvein down the center. Comfrey leaf arches more with a fold in the middle, wehre foxglove leaf lays out fairly flat. Comfrey leaves get bigger, before sending up bloom stalk. In bloom, clear difference between the two.

At least, this is my (limited) experience. I have grown both, comfrey plants dependable perennial, foxglove getting seedlings from a friend.

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altagardener Calgary, AB(Zone 3b) Jul 24, 2015

At what stage of growth are you trying to distinguish them? What sort of foxglove are you referring to - what colour of flowers?

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dondown Saint Leolin, Canada Jul 25, 2015

Here are the two plants. The darker was bought at a garden center and said it was a Strawberry Foxglove, the other was said to be a foxglove. So confusing!

Thumbnail by dondown Thumbnail by dondown
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sallyg Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b) Jul 25, 2015

the dark one does not look like Comfrey, The light one looks like familiar foxglove Digitalis purpureum.

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altagardener Calgary, AB(Zone 3b) Jul 25, 2015

They could well both be foxgloves. Any reason why you doubt it?

Strawberry foxglove is Digitalis mertonensis - here's a photo which resembles your first photo:
https://fairegarden.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/june-24-2010-044-2.jpg

Here's Digitalis purpurea, which resembles your second photo:
https://fairegarden.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/june-24-2010-037-2.jpg

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