Description: a robust, erect (up to 120 cm) perennial with thick, mucilaginous roots and large, ovate leaves.

The funnel-shaped flowers appear in clusters in summer and can be white to purple.

Parts used: root, collected in autumn, or leaves, collected during early flowering

Actions: astringent, demulcent, expectorant, tissue healer, cell proliferant

Although comfrey has been used for centuries as a wound healer and restorer of broken bones — its country name is “knitbone” and the botanical name is derived from the Greek sympho meaning to unite — it has had a more chequered history in recent years, veering from panacea to health hazard.

Its healing action is due to a chemical called allantoin which encourages growth of various tissue cells and so accelerates healing. Generations used comfrey poultices on pulled ligaments and minor fractures, while herbalists used it internally for stomach ulceration.The immense healing properties of the plant have been put to many diverse uses over the centuries: in the past comfrey baths were popular before marriage in the belief that they would repair the hymen and thus create the appearance of virginity.

Herbal BeautyDuring the I 960s and 1970s the plant became over- hyped as a cure-all for arthritis and this inevitably focused research interest on its constituents. Scientists fed large amounts of the plant to rats which subsequently died of liver disease and comfrey’s pyrrolizidine alkaloids were blamed. Comfrey supporters argue that the rats had so much comfrey to eat they actually suffered from the effects of malnutrition and maintain that the alkaloids are not extracted in conventional herbal preparations (infusions and ointments). Health authorities have tended to disagree and comfrey is now banned in many parts of the world, including Australia. In the UK the leaf can still be sold over-the-counter and it can be used in external preparations, although many advise against using it on open wounds.

The herb is still easily found in the wild or can be grown in gardens (although it does have tenacious roots).The hot infused oil is easy to make and forms a useful base for massage oils for arthritis, sprains and similar traumatic injuries – add 2-5 drops of rosemary or lavender essential oil to 10 ml of comfrey, and rub into aching joints and limbs. Regular treatment can help repair the damage of old injuries which may be contributing to osteoarthritis. Comfrey is also extremely healing for any sort of bruising.

The dangers of pyrrolizidine alkaloids apart, the herb should not be used on fresh wounds before they are thoroughly cleaned since the rapid healing caused by the allantoin may trap dirt, so leading to abscesses.

Dandelion Taraxacum officinale

Description: perennial with a long tap root and a basal rosette of toothed leaves. Erect yellow composite flowers appear from spring to autumn followed by the characteristic puffball of hairy seeds.

Parts used: root generally gathered in spring, leaves gathered before flowering

Actions: anti-rheumatic, bile stimulant, diuretic, mild laxative, liver and digestive tonic dandelion was apparently invented by a 15th-century surgeon known only as Master Wilhelm, who compared the shape of the leaves to a lion’s tooth or dens leonis. Initially the herb was regarded as a variant of endive or chicory and recommended as a liver remedy. Its botanical name actually derives from the Arabic tarakhaqun, which means “wild chicory”.The leaves are still eaten in salad (especially in France) and have a noted diuretic action – hence the French name, pissenlit, and Old English pissabed or piddlybeds.

Master Wilhelm and his contemporaries regarded dandelion as a cooling herb, as do the Chinese. They have used it in medicine since the seventh century and recommend it for both liver problems and skin eruptions, where it is considered to “cool the blood”.

As a diuretic, dandelion is unusual in that it is extremely rich in potassium, which is generally lost in urination. Although the whole plant has a tonic action on the liver, the root is rather more stimulating and cleansing and dandelion root tea makes a good laxative and liver stimulant for a sluggish digestion.

The plant is also anti-inflammatory and useful as a cleansing remedy in rheumatism, although it is mainly included in remedies for kidney and liver problems.

It is commonly included in over-the-counter slimming preparations for its diuretic and laxative properties – although this is not an ideal way to attempt to lose weight, as it simply depletes body fluids.

Dandelion leaves are very nutritious (rich in Vitamins A, B-complex, and C, plus iron, manganese, phosphorus, sulphur, manganese, calcium, silica and potassium), so are well worth adding to salads, Dandelion leaf tea can help with mild fluid retention and a decoction of the root makes a cleansing drink for the liver. Dandelion is unusual in that it is generally recommended to gather the roots in the spring rather than autumn, when most roots are lifted. This is because the starch content is lower then, so the active medicinal constituents are in greater concentration. However, the French recommend the juice of the root, gathered in autumn, as a liver tonic.

Externally the white sap from dandelion stems can be used on warts, while an infusion of aerial parts has been used for in an eye-bath for eye inflammations.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Herbal Remedies and Cures; Comfrey Symphytum officinale