Comfrey(was] New Member)

[Guest guest]

Merry Meet new members!

 

Michele (we have several, you may have to

start adding an initial or location) wrote:

 

I also plan to plant St. John's Wart, Comfry,

 

Be careful with both of those

great healing plants, they like to take over. I made the

mistake of inviting Comfrey into my main vegetable garden.

It self-seeds ferociously, and its deep roots make digging it up and moving it

hard. The smallest piece of root left behind will create another plant. So,

plant it where

it will have room and not make a nuisance of itself!

 

All the best,

 

Ien in the Kootenays

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[Guest guest]

, " Ieneke van Houten "

<ienvan@t...> wrote:

 

> It self-seeds ferociously, and its deep roots make digging it up and

moving it

> hard. The smallest piece of root left behind will create another

plant. So, plant it where

> it will have room and not make a nuisance of itself!

 

Hi Ien, everyone:

 

I have to share an observation about comfrey, and perhaps the inner

soul of a plant and how it communicates to us.

 

I, too have grown comfrey in the temperate zone, and people in certain

parts of the US are probably still cursing me because of the rampant

comfrey they are trying to eradicate from their gardens, lol.

 

Down here in Florida, my one - one - comfrey plant just sits there,

calm and not frantically reseeding and spreading. It's been in the

same place for years, and is so strangely unlike the other, rampant

comfreys, I had to wonder.

 

Then, about five years or so ago, on Henriette's great herbal website,

http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/ and on the internet group, I

discovered that comfrey grown in the tropics contains a higher, more

dangerous concentration of the liver-damaging pyrolizzidine alkaloids

(PAs) that have given comfrey use a bad name.

http://www.google.com/search?hq=%2Fherbmed & sitesearch=ibiblio.org & query=comfrey

 

So, I don't use my little plant internally. For that, I purchase the

leaf grown up north. I do use it for a poultice or soak, no problem there.

 

Just wanted to share how the plant limits its growth in the tropics,

and, perhaps, by doing so, limits its potential for harming people.

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[Guest guest]

Ien,

Thanks, I did not know that about Comfry, however I did find out where I

purchased my lavender at that it does get rather large. Aren't the roots what

you want to use?

Michele in Michigan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I use the leaves from mine.

Paula .......... in Michigan

I used to have super powers but my therapist took them away

 

 

Ien,

Thanks, I did not know that about Comfry, however I did find out where I

purchased my lavender at that it does get rather large. Aren't the roots what

you want to use?

Michele in Michigan

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Anya,

 

What a wonderful thing to know!

I have never used Comfrey internally but

I have never been too worried about the

danger either.

It seems to be in the category of " Rats, when experimented upon, will develop

Cancer " .

 

Anyway if anyone in Canada wants some root,

I have insane amounts and I hate to just toss it

out.

My friend Maggie already makes a terrific

Comfrey and Poplar Bud liniment.

I just buy hers so I don't feel the need to make anything with Comfrey.

 

What I do now is dig the excess plants into the

chicken run. They thrive there and get eaten

right down to nothing during chicken time.

 

Then they come right back up from the root,

even within days!

 

Also, a tea made with the plentiful leaves is

wonderful on any member of the nightshade

family.

 

Such a generous soul, our dear lady Comfrey...

 

Ien in the Kootenays

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" To treat life as less than a miracle

is to give up on it. "

~Wendell Berry

Rainforest Miracles:

http://wildhealing.net

****************************

 

 

[Guest guest]

<Ien,

Thanks, I did not know that about Comfry, however I did find out where I

purchased my lavender at that it does get rather large. Aren't the roots what

you want to use?

Michele in Michigan>

 

Roots and leaves are both used.

The roots are more powerful.

It depends on what you want it for.

 

I use mine mainly for chickenfeed

and as green manure. The leaves are very high in potassium, and because

the roots go down so deep they pick

up lots of minerals from the subsoil.

 

Comfrey is a wonderful plant, just make sure to give it lots of room!

 

Ien in the Kootenays

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