Comfrey

(Symphytum officinale, fam. Boraginaceae)

The comfrey is one of the necessary plants, given to us by nature at our disposal. The root is a thumb-thick, dark-brown to black on the outside, and white-yellowish on the inside. When cut, it is slimy and oily, with a typical smell and somewhat austere taste.

It contains the alkaloid symphytum cynoglossin, the gluco-alkaloid consolidine, plenty of mucilage, rubber, resins, tannin, essential oil, sugars, and the purine derivative alantoine.

It is a typically slimy and tannin drug.

Use

Owing to the presence of alantoine, comfrey helps the growth and reproduction of cells and tissue renewal, and this explains its centuries-long use in the medicine for treating bone fractures, rheumatism, swollen and immovable joints, deformation of joints and bones, damaged articulation, etc., as well as for treating ulcers, old and festering wounds, varices, and for improvement of circulation.

The tea made of comfrey is also used against respiratory tracts inflammation, and is widely used as an efficient means of removing difficulties of digestion organs, against stomach hemorrhaging, diarrhea, stomach and duodenum ulcer, etc.