Comfrey
Symphytum officinale (the picture below is a different species - the ‘officinale’ species is the one that should be used medicinally, but the more common one found in the wild in London is the one below, Symphytum uplandicum)

This is a herb that you will see a lot around London - park edges and wild spaces, as it tends to take over an area successfully! With big hairy finely-divided leaves and pink-to-purple or white flowers that the bees love, Comfrey’s folk name is ‘Knitbone’, reflecting its long medicinal use as a bone healer. Herbalists use it as an effective healing agent for damage to tissue - skin, flesh, bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons. It contains allantoin, a compound that promotes cell proliferation i.e. growth of new tissue, as well as high levels of minerals (having roots that reach deep into the soil and bring them up into the plant). The leaves are rich in calcium, potassium, phosphorus and silicic acid, making it a well-used gardeners’ fertiliser, but this mix of plant compounds also means that it is particularly helpful for repairing damage to parts of our body that are built with these minerals. Energetically speaking it has such a determined and strong physical structure that some practitioners hold it to be useful for giving this holding quality in life, if you're feeling a bit loose or scattered and more structure is needed!

The leaves were commonly used in the past to make a ‘poultice’ - an external remedy that is prepared by mashing up fresh plant material and laying it on the surface of the body where there is injury. This can be done if there are shallow wounds to the skin (making sure the area is clean) and also was used to wrap around broken bones. It can be really helpful for reducing the swelling and inflammation associated with injuries like sprained ligaments. Traditionally a tea made with the leaves would also have been drunk during the treatment period. There are lots of stories about the use of Comfrey surprising medical practitioners with the speed of healing of fractures and injury that it can achieve.

You can also infuse the leaves (fresh or dried) into oil (e.g. almond or olive oil) for a few weeks (or for a few hours over a waterbath), then strain out the plant material and use the oil for the same purpose. This is a herb that you will see a lot around London - park edges and wild spaces, as it tends to take over an area successfully! With big hairy finely-divided leaves and pink-to-purple or white flowers that the bees love, Comfrey’s folk name is ‘Knitbone’, reflecting its long medicinal use as a bone healer. Herbalists use it as an effective healing agent for damage to tissue - skin, flesh, bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons. It contains allantoin, a compound that promotes cell proliferation i.e. growth of new tissue, as well as high levels of minerals (having roots that reach deep into the soil and bring them up into the plant). The leaves are rich in calcium, potassium, phosphorus and silicic acid, making it a well-used gardeners’ fertiliser, but this mix of plant compounds also means that it is particularly helpful for repairing damage to parts of our body that are built with these minerals. Energetically speaking it has such a determined and strong physical structure that some practitioners hold it to be useful for giving this holding quality in life, if you're feeling a bit loose or scattered and more structure is needed!

The leaves were commonly used in the past to make a ‘poultice’ - an external remedy that is prepared by mashing up fresh plant material and laying it on the surface of the body where there is injury. This can be done if there are shallow wounds to the skin (making sure the area is clean) and also was used to wrap around broken bones. It can be really helpful for reducing the swelling and inflammation associated with injuries like sprained ligaments. Traditionally a tea made with the leaves would also have been drunk during the treatment period. There are lots of stories about the use of Comfrey surprising medical practitioners with the speed of healing of fractures and injury that it can achieve.

You can also infuse the leaves (fresh or dried) into oil (e.g. almond or olive oil) for a few weeks (or for a few hours over a waterbath), then strain out the plant material and use the oil for the same purpose. Here is a link to a document instructing how to make infused oils yourself at home from the most excellent Grassroots Remedies herbal coop in Edinburgh.


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