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THE ESSEX NATURALIST
The Distribution of the Comfreys in Essex
By Herbert A. Sandford, B.A.
The Comfreys form an attractive and interesting group of
plants. Their white, purple or blue flowers are borne in spring
and summer on a long unfolding cyme like the tail of a scorpion
and in the manner of the Forget-me-not, which belongs to the
same family, the Boraginaceae.
As a group the Comfreys are easily recognised but some of its
members urgently need further study. Two are common but there
is always the chance of finding a rarity. They have a venerable
history too, first as a medicinal plant beloved of the old herbalists,
as the name implies, and later as a garden flower and a farm crop,
where they are still occasionally found.
The Tuberous Comfrey Symphytum tuberosum L. This is one
of the smaller Comfreys and its yellowish-white flowers are quite
attractive and conspicuous. It was found in Essex, apparently for
the first time, by the Rev. W. H. Coleman at Dedham (03)*. It
was near here that Constable was born and painted his "Dedham
Mill". Another clergyman, the Rev. W. M. Hind, found S.
tuberosum again in Essex at a later date and probably near
Kelvedon (81). The exact dates of these discoveries are not
known, but Gibson (1862) mentions them in his Essex flora. The
plant seems to have eluded botanists in this county until 1932
when it was found at Ring Hill, Saffron Walden (53), on the
occasion of Field Club meeting (Essex Naturalist, 1932). It has
not been reported there since but in 1964 it was found by the
author at Noak Hill, Romford (59), and within a few weeks by
Messrs S. T. Jermyn and J. E. Lousley at Warley Place (59). The
very extensive collection of flowers raised by Miss E. Willmott at
Warley Place could well have included the Tuberous Comfrey and
although the gardens have been derelict since the early 1930s the
plant might well have persisted. The other station, at Noak Hill,
consists of two small roadside colonies not near any present
gardens but I have discovered the foundations of what might have
been a small lodge. Messrs Jermyn and Lousley have since con-
firmed the identification.
Most of the stations in this part of the country, including the
Essex sites, are not far from habitations and it is reasonably cer-
tain that they have arisen as survivals or escapes from gardens
(Bangerter & Welch, 1954), having been introduced either from
the Continent or from Scotland where it is much more frequent
and certainly native. Nevertheless, the possibility of it being
native in the South East should be considered for there are many
seemingly suitable habitats here. It has been recorded recently
*10 Km. square number.