Comfrey

Is Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) a cultivated plant or a wild one? It is a European import, and certainly acts like an uncontrollable, invasive plant in some ways, popping up on field edges, and resisting being cleaved in half by sprouting into two distinct plants when plowed. But there is also its immense usefulness. My permaculture-inclined friends “chop-and-drop” comfrey, creating nutrient-rich mulch for other garden plants. And, of course, the leaves and root are brewed into mucilaginous wound-healing concoctions for external or internal use. There are many tales of comfrey, in its exuberance, healing puncture wounds a little too quickly, causing the skin to heal over before the inner area is cleaned out. Comfrey is one of the medicinal plants which have been implicated recently in liver failure due to the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Still, many herbalists continue to take and recommend it internally, feeling that the benefits outweigh the risks.