11/18/2023 0 Comments Symphytum officinale skin safety![]() ![]() The widespread suffering caused by the Irish potato famine of the 1840s motivated Henry Doubleday, an Englishman, to fund research into comfrey's potential as a nutritional food crop. The herb has long been used as a cooked green vegetable in early spring, and the fresh, young leaves have been added to salads. Other constituents found in comfrey include tannins, resin, essential oil, gum, carotene, rosmarinic acid, choline, glycosides, sugars, betea-sitosterol, and steroidal saponins.Ĭomfrey contains vitamins A and B 12, and is high in calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. Comfrey, applied externally to superficial wounds, promotes the healing of connective tissue, bones, and cartilage. The allantoin in comfrey, found most abundantly in the flowering tops, has been identified as the source of much of the herb's healing actions. The herb is thought to loosen congestion, soothe irritated membranes and skin, reduce bleeding, tighten tissues, and heal wounds. The hot, pulped root, applied externally, was used to treat bronchitis, pleurisy, and to reduce pain and inflammation of sprains. The herbal tea has also been used to treat nasal congestion and inflammation, diarrhea, and to quiet coughing. As a gargle it has been used to treat mouth sores and bleeding gums. Comfrey, taken internally as a tea or expressed juice, has been used to soothe ulcers, hernias, colitis, and to stop internal bleeding. Poultices were also applied to ease breast pain in breast-feeding women. The external application of comfrey preparations may minimize the formation of scar tissue. Comfrey has been prepared as a poultice or compress with healing properties for blunt injuries, fractures, swollen bruises, boils, carbuncles, varicose ulcers, and burns. The specific name officinale designates its inclusion in early lists of official medicinal herbs. General useĬomfrey root and other parts of the herb have been valued medicinally for more than 2,000 years. The cup-like fruits each contain four small, black seeds. Flowers are mauve to violet and form in dense, hanging clusters, blooming in summer. Small, bell-shaped flowers grow from the axils of the smaller, upper leaves on red stalks. They are alternate and lance shaped, with lower leaves as large as 10 in (25 cm) in length, and dark green on top and light green on the underside. The thick, somewhat succulent, veined leaves are covered with rough hairs. Hollow, erect stems, also containing mucilage, are covered with bristly hairs that cause itching when in contact with the skin. Comfrey root is large, branching, and black on the outside with a creamy white interior containing a slimy mucilage. ![]() In Russian medicine, the herb is considered poisonous when used excessively.Ĭomfrey grows well in rich, moist, low meadows, or along ponds and river banks, where it may reach a height of 4 ft (1.2 m). There are about 25 species of the herb, including prickly comfrey ( S. comfrey is a perennial native of Europe and Asia and has been naturalized throughout North America. The herb is named after its traditional folk use in compress and poultice preparations to speed the healing of fractures, broken bones, bruises, and burns. The common name comfrey is from the Latin confirmare meaning to join together. The genus name Symphytum is from the Greek word sympho meaning to unite. This distinctive herb, considered by the English herbalist Culpeper to be "under the dominion of the moon," is a member of the Boraginaceae family. Comfrey ( Symphytum officinale ), or common comfrey, has been known by many names, including boneset, knitbone, bruisewort, black wort, salsify, ass ear, wall wort, slippery root, gum plant, healing herb, consound, or knit back. ![]()
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