Comfrey ointment (!) made at the Henry Doubleday Research Station in Bocking, Braintree, Essex, England. The thick opaque goo inside is so dark brown as to be nearly black. There's a small jar of ointment in my first aid kit that smells faintly of lanolin. I rarely dig the comfrey root, but when I do, I tincture it in 100-proof vodka for external use only. How I do it: Two or three times a week, I drink a nourishing herbal infusion made by steeping one ounce (by weight!) of dried comfrey (uplandica) leaves and flowering stalks in four cups boiling water in a tightly-lidded quart canning jar for 4-8 hours. When I identify with comfrey, I feel very green. When I identify with comfrey, I feel the flexibility that comes from being knit together. When I identify with comfrey, I feel powerful and proud, beautiful and exuberant. ![]() See why I'm so fond of comfrey? What a marvelous ally she is! Not dangerous at all. And please don't forget, comfrey contains special proteins needed for the formation of short-term memory cells.Ĭomfrey leaves are not only rich in proteins, they are a great source of folic acid, many vitamins, and every mineral and trace mineral we need for a strong immune system, a calm nervous system, and a happy hormone system. It keeps my face wrinkle-free and my skin and scalp supple. It keeps my lungs and respiratory tract healthy. (An old country name for comfrey is "knit bone".) It strengthens my digestion and elimination. „X Three: I have drunk a quart or more of comfrey infusion once or twice a week for twenty years with no problems.ĭrinking comfrey infusion has benefited me in many ways: It keeps my bones strong and flexible. And several generations of comfrey-eaters at his research station have no comfrey-related health problems. His crosses - sterile hybrids that don't produce seeds - are what we grow in our gardens. „X Two: During the Second World War, an Englishman named Henry Doubleday devoted himself to hybridizing comfrey and making it safe to eat as a cooked green. „X One: An herbal group that I belong to sent three samples of comfrey leaf (one from the west coast, one from the east coast, and one from the Rocky Mountains) to a lab to be tested for the problematic alkaloids they found none. How can I be so sure that cultivated comfrey is safe to consume internally? Three things have convinced me. But cultivated comfrey (uplandica) leaves don't. Wild comfrey (officinale) leaves have some of the same poisons. Comfrey roots, like most perennial roots, contain poisons. To complicate the situation even more: the roots and the leaves of comfrey contain different constituents. But gardeners and herbal sellers alike usually mislabel it, causing no end of confusion. uplandica x.) is a large plant - often surpassing two meters - with blue or purple flowers.Įveryone I know grows uplandica and that is what is sold in stores. off.) is a small plant - up to a meter tall - with yellow flowers. (The "x" means it is a hybrid, a cross.) Wild comfrey (S. There are two species of comfrey: wild comfrey - Symphytum officinale - and cultivated comfrey - Symphytum uplandica x. Perhaps it starts with confusion, aided by imprecise language. How did such a wonderful green ally come to have such a terrible reputation? Comfrey has so much to offer as an aid to health and healing. When I identify with comfrey, I feel like a persecuted witch wrongly accused of evil-doing. Does that mean she's one of those dangerous ladies? My answer is "No!"Įvery time I mention comfrey, someone asks if it isn't "unsafe". My very good friend comfrey is one of my daily infusions, but she is also in my first aid kit. That's where I keep the fast-acting remedies, some of which (like poke) can be dangerous. For daily health maintenance I rely on nourishing herbal infusions but when injury or illness strike - on the road or at home - I reach for my first aid kit. Whether astride a horse in Provence, climbing a volcano in Costa Rica, taking a jet plane to New Zealand, or just spending a quiet day in my gardens, I am never without my herbal first-aid kit. ![]() August 07th 2011 - COMFREY - SYMPHYTUM UPLANDICA X
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