the.com/comfrey
the herb that knits broken bones so well it earned the name knitbone
means A bristly-leaved garden and medicinal plant of the borage family, long applied to bruises, sprains, and broken bones, with bell-shaped flowers and deep roots rich in soothing mucilage.
from From Old French 'confire,' meaning to mend or prepare, by way of Latin 'confervere' — 'to boil together,' hence 'to heal' or 'knit together' — built from 'con-' (together) and 'fervere' (to boil). The name carried the plant's whole reputation in a single word: this was the herb you used to make wounds and bones grow back together. English folk knew the same idea more bluntly, calling it knitbone.
- old name
- called bone-knit and bruisewort for healing fractures
- toxic twist
- contains alkaloids that damage the liver if eaten
- garden powerhouse
- leaves make potent fertilizer rich in potassium
- deep roots
- taproots reach two meters mining buried nutrients
- bee magnet
- bell flowers feed long-tongued bumblebees specifically
comfrey root poultice — traditional herbal remedy used for fracture healing and wound care for over 2000 years in europe and asia
symphytum officinale — the species native to the caucasus region, cultivated worldwide as a medicinal and fodder plant
comfrey tea controversy — fda warned against internal consumption in 2001 due to hepatotoxic alkaloids causing liver damage in some users