365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Monday, May 30, 2022
Symphytum Officinale, Common Comfrey
Day 229: Let's get one thing straight right here at the onset. I don't give a flying ding-dong how useful Comfrey is as a medicinal herb. The fact is, Symphytum officinale is a mettlesome and persistent invasive, and the property next door to mine is full of it. I have been fighting its spread into my yard for over thirty years, but because the owner of the land does nothing to control it, it continues to spring up on my side of the fence. Unfortunately, the county does not mandate treatment of it. From a distance, it could be mistaken for our native "bluebell" Mertensia paniculata, but closer examination of or contact with the stems will quickly demonstrate otherwise. The fine, stiff hairs (inset) are very prickly and irritating to the skin as anyone who has tried to pull it will attest. It has a long taproot which must be dug out entirely to prevent the plant from coming back. I can only hope to keep my yard free of it. As for its likely incursion into adjacent properties, the other neighbour and the county are on their own.
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