Tuesday 26 April 2011

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)

Comfrey is native of Europe and Asia. It is a common herb which can be found in wet places and is often planted in gardens. Comfrey plant and root should not be eaten as a vegetable.
Comfrey is a leafy perennial herb reaching up to 1 m. Comfrey grows erect and has large and hairy leaves.The inside of the root contains slimy juice, hence its names slippery root and gum plant. Comfrey flowers grow at the end of the stems in one sided clusters. They are tubular shaped and white or blue coloured.

Location and Preparation of your Comfrey Bed
Comfrey is a pretty tough plant that will grow from small pieces of root so do choose your location with care. It is easier to kill most weeds than comfrey.



Comfrey has been used for centuries for its wound healing properties. Comfrey is mainly used externally to treat inflammation and to stimulate wound and fracture healing. The phytochemical allantoin is known for its stimulation of cell proliferation.









With the help from my dear friend Leslie, I have the intension to make comfrey ointment, so this is the beginning.
Comfrey leaves stopped in a pot and filled up with olive oil.

9 comments:

Comfrey Cottages said...

Very nice blog post, Rita! And what a lovely flower the white ones are! I have never seen the white ones before and really like them:) I like the nicknames slippery root and gum plant! lol Very appropriate:) You are so right about comfrey being a plant to be careful of where you plant her, as she will always be there! This is so much fun seeing the differences and the similarities of our plants:) I will be mailing you some of my beeswax very soonxxxxx Thank you so much for sharing with us your lovely Comfrey oil xoxoxox love you

Anonymous said...

I love love love comfrey!!! :)

Thank you for visiting my blog and including the link to yours! I am thoroughly enjoying myself here.

Much love!
Dana

Tim Hopper said...

Sadly, I wasn't brave enough to plant it out on my allotment. I had it in a pot for a couple of seasons, it's survived, an area aside is needed!

Hugs,
Tim :o)x

Rita M said...

Thanks Tim,
I planted one in a big tub, so I hope to encounter no seedlings in the garden. Maybe I can put the tub on a place where pavement is, so that he can not spread?

Hugs,
Rita :)

Heather at Dusty Bay said...

I've learnt to like comfrey... I have a huge, huge one here and tried to dig it out - no suck luck! I ended up incorporating it in my herb garden but I still have to pluck the stray shoots out all the time!

jolanda said...

hoi Rita, hoe gaat het met je? Leuk dat je zo met kruiden bezig bent, dat boeit mij ook best wel hoor. Ik zou het bv wel leuk vinden om eens een cursus kruidengeneeskunde te doen of zo, maar ja... ik kom al tijd tekort door m'n hobby's hahaha.
groetjes, jolanda

Josien said...

Hallo Rita,

It is interesting, your Comfrey, and specially it's healing crafts. I learn a lot, passing by ;-)

I love it, your English oriented blog. For exampel, once been in Sissinghurst, one cann't forget ..

Hartelijke groet!
Josien

Rowan said...

Thank you for your nice comment on my blog. I love comfrey and the ointment that I make from the leaves. I used lots and lots of it when my sons were in their teens and early twenties, they played football every week and I often used the leaves as a poultice for their injuries. I'm about to make a fresh batch of the ointment when the rain stops and the leaves are dry enough to pick.

Tim Hopper said...

Hi Rita

Love your last slideshow! (Unfortunately I lost the url, so wasn't able to comment there.)

But why didn't you venture the zig zag to the bottom? It's better when the tides out though, as you can take a ladder to the beach. Great views from there! It's really not as scary as it seems.

Hugs,
Tim :o)x