![]() The Greeks and Romans commonly used comfrey to stop heavy bleeding, treat bronchial problems and heal wounds and broken bones. Medicinal – Comfrey has been cultivated as a healing herb since at least 400BC. ( Learn more its history on the Balkan Ecology Project blog.) Uses of comfrey Lawrence Hills lived at 20 Convent Lane just around the corner of the trial site. At this site, Hills trialed at least 21 comfrey ‘strains’, each one named after the village Bocking. Strain 14 was identified as being the most nutrient rich, non-seeding strain and ‘Bocking 14’ began its journey into gardens far and wide across the world. The original trial site is on the plot of land now occupied by the Doubleday Gardens housing development. In the 1950s, Hills developed a comfrey research program in the village of Bocking, near Braintree in the UK. Years later, and after two world wars, Lawrence D Hills (1911-1991) would continue Henry Doubleday’s Comfrey crusade. The plant most commonly referred to and used in gardens is Russian comfrey – Symphytum x uplandicum, a naturally occurring hybrid of two wild species: common comfrey – Symphytum officinale and prickly comfrey – Symphytum asperum.Ī few centuries back, the hybrid Symphytum x uplandicum came to the attention of Henry Doubleday (1810-1902) and he widely promoted the plant as a food and forage crop. is native to Europe and Asia and there are 40 recorded species throughout that region. Introduction to comfreyĪ member of the borage family, comfrey – Symphytum spp. ![]() There’s a plethora of info out there about comfrey but not much detail regarding establishing and managing a comfrey patch so I thought I would write an article to share my experience on this and how we grow comfrey as part of our fertility strategy in the market garden. ![]()
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