Common Comfrey

Common Comfrey has bell-like flowers, white through pink to purple, from May to August, followed by black, shiny fruits.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Symphytum officinale
Family: 
Borages
Family Latin name: 
BORAGINACEAE
Category: 
Flowering Plants
Vernacular names: 

For all comfreys: Knitbone, Nip-bone, Ass-ear

Species description

Species description

Comfrey has bell-like flowers of many colours, white through pink to purple, from May to August, followed by black, shiny fruits. The whole plant is edible. Young leaves, picked from May to early July, and roots, lifted in Spring, can be steamed and served with melted butter or lemon juice. The young shoots can be blanched and prepared like asparagus.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
Common Comfrey has bell-like flowers, white through pink to purple, from May to August, followed by black, shiny fruits.
Young leaves of Common Comfrey can be steamed and served with melted butter or lemon juice.

Details

Species family information

The plants in this family are noted for their being edged with coarse hairs. The flowers often start pink and turn blue, and are usually in one-sided stalked spikes, which at first are tightly coiled.

Category information

Nucleic multicellular photosynthetic organisms lived in freshwater communities on land as long ago as a thousand million years, and their terrestrial descendants are known from the late Pre-Cambrian 850 million years ago. Embryophyte land plants are known from the mid Ordovician, and land plant structures such as roots and leaves are recognisable in mid Devonian fossils. Seeds seem to have evolved by the late Devonian. The Embryophytes are green land plants that form the bulk of the Earth’s vegetation. They have specialised reproductive organs and nurture the young embryo sporophyte. Most obtain their energy by photosynthesis, using sunlight to synthesise food from Carbon Dioxide and Water.

The earliest known plant group is the Archaeplastida, which were autotrophic. Listing just the surviving descendants, which evolved in turn, we have the Red Algae, the Chlorophyte Green Algae, the Charophyte Green Algae, and then the Embryophyta or land plants. The earliest embryophytes were the Liverworts, followed by the Hornworts, and the Mosses. Then we have the Vascular Plants, the Lycophytes and Ferns, followed by the Spermatophytes or seed plants, the Gnetophytes, Conifers, Ginkgos, and Cycads, and finally the Magnoliophyta (Angiosperms) or flowering plants.

Further information

Recipe for Comfrey Fritters

Comfrey leaves, undamaged    4 oz (100g) flour
1 egg       milk
a pinch of salt.
Sieve the flour and salt together, beat in the yolk of the egg and add milk until you have a creamy batter consistency.  Whisk the egg white until stiff and fold in.  Wash and dry the comfrey leaves, coat in batter and fry in hot oil until brown and crispy.  Serve with lemon juice.

Comfrey leaf infusions are drunk to relieve respiratory complaints and discomfort from ulcers.  As an ointment or poultice the leaves reduce swellings and bruising, and will assist the healing of wounds, sprains and bone fractures.  A former name for Comfrey was Knitbone.  Use a wet leaf poultice or soak a cloth in leaf or root tea.  For bone setting, grate the roots dug in Spring and pack a sludge of the roots around the fracture.

Comfrey cream preparations are soothing to the skin and are excellent for dry skin, chapped hands and sunburn.  Comfrey salves also effectively treat blisters, bruises, burns, cuts, eczema, insect bites and stings, and more serious injuries.

Recipes for Comfrey Sun Cream and Hand Cream

2 oz (50g) comfrey leaves   ½ pint (300ml) water
2 tbsp each of sesame oil and lanolin.
Tear up the leaves and boil in water for 20 minutes, pressing to release all juices.  Warm the lanolin and sesame oil together until the lanolin dissolves.  Strain the comfrey decoction into this solution and stir well.  Put into a bottle and shake frequently until it is cool and homogenous.  Comfrey hand cream is made in a similar way, except that instead of lanolin and sesame oil you use 7 fl oz (200ml) glycerine and 12 tbsp rose petal water.  Stir well.

A decoction of grated comfrey root, used as a poultice, helps the healing of wounds, bruises, sprains, swellings and itchiness.  When drunk, it eases sore throats, coughs and helps combat diarrhoea.  Comfrey root makes a good 'coffee' with no injurious effects like the real thing.