Comfrey

COMFREY

My youngest brother broke his ankle a few days ago.  Right at this moment he is in surgery...5 hours and counting now:/  He really broke it.  With healing properties of Comfrey, Calendula and even a bit of Plantain, I began putting together a drying station and harvesting a bunch to bring him for making poultices to speed recovery.

Comfrey is a plant with soft long leaves unbothered by bugs.  It seems bugs don't enjoy eating the plant in any way... I have never seen a Comfrey plant with a bug problem...One of many flowers I use to boarder my gardens.  In the summer they develop purple flowers.

Comfrey is most typically used in external applications.  Recently, many began to wonder about its damage to the liver because of a poison called pyrrozidine alkaloids.  The only tests I can find are so isolated and the test subjects were given massive over the top doses of Comfrey...which of course lead to less than favorable results-  far beyond what one would use for tea...and those countries that do use it frequently for tea don't seem to have reported issues with consumption.  I'm no doctor, but there are times when looking at wording and evaluating the broadness of studies needs to be dissected.

My first experience was watching a friend who had sliced her finger wide open.  She ground up some Comfrey leaf and packed on the wound, slapped a bandaid over it and warned me that if I ever do that I must watch the cell regeneration because it helps stimulate regrowth so quickly it can cause a build up of cells and within days you could have an overabundance of skin cells looking like a scar!  Whaaaat??  So, I watched her healing-  she cut her finger so deep I had my reservations.  But low and behold I was so happy to be wrong. The healing is because of an abundance of allantion.  Comfrey has been used for ages to reduce swelling and is believed to knit broken bones together faster than expected- it also has high levels of vitamin C and calcium.

I began studying it and later viewed several experienced herbalists and alchemists state not to put on open wounds...but still!!!  What I saw with.my.own.eyes will not be forgotten.

Plantain

Plantain is a weed that is related to spinach.  Here^^^ you can see it in early growth.  It can get huge and eventually it begins to grow a slender woody stalk with a concentrated comb like collection of seeds at the top...    It is also a great one to keep on hand.  We keep it dried and even frozen in the deep freezer for tea and poultices.  This is something that is most likely in your yard or close by.
Together with Comfrey and some times even adding a bit of Calendula to make a tea or infusion and have a poultice ready on hand for problems like bee stings, mosquito bites, nettle stings and even poison ivy. Usually there is Plantain or Jewelweed growing close by poison ivy...just chew it up and slap it on the exposed area of your infected area to relieve pain if out in the woods.
Plantain also has a coagulant that works on external bleeding.  Not internally at all.