Comfrey - General Description
Comfrey officinalis is a perennial herb with a short black rhizome with long thick branches. The plant stem grows up to 100 centimeters in height, branched at the top, spreading leaves.
Comfrey is completely covered with white rough bristly hairs. Comfrey blooms throughout the summer. And a cup of purple or dirty purple flower is also covered with thick woolly hairs. The fruit of the plant, which ripens in July-September, is a dry pod that breaks up into 4 shiny nuts.
Comfrey - types and places of growth
Comfrey is found in forest and steppe zones of the predominantly European part of Russia; it also grows in Central Asia, the Carpathians, Western Siberia, the Caucasus and East Kazakhstan.
You need to look for comfrey in moist meadows, in bushes, not far from streams and ditches, on soils with a peat-mineral composition.
Comfrey - healing properties
Comfrey products have anti-inflammatory, astringent, antimicrobial, enveloping and hemostatic properties.
Also, this plant is able to increase tone, improve appetite, cope with colitis, diarrhea, intestinal and stomach bleeding. Comfrey also has a healing and softening effect on the skin.
Comfrey - dosage forms
The roots of the plant, which are harvested in late autumn, have medicinal value. From the prepared raw materials, mainly infusions and decoctions are prepared. In the treatment of skin diseases, fresh comfrey leaves can also be used, which are applied to wounds.
Comfrey - recipes
Comfrey leaves contain the substance allantoin. Traditional medicine has noticed that allantoin contributes to the rapid fusion of bones during a fracture. And if a gypsum dressing is not used for injuries, then it is necessary to apply pulp from comfrey leaves - the wound will heal faster.
In the treatment of gout, osteoarthritis, polyarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteochondrosis of the spine, comfrey ointment can help. To prepare it, comfrey roots must be crushed into powder, then mix it with internal pork fat, adhering to a 1: 4 ratio. The ointment thus prepared is kept in the refrigerator. And before going to bed, sick joints are lubricated with comfrey ointment. Doing this at night is convenient for the reason that after using the ointment, the affected areas must be wrapped with a warm cloth.
In an effort to cure diseased joints, you can use the plant in the form of compresses or baths. To do this, prepare a decoction by boiling 10 grams in a liter of water 100 grams of the roots of the plant. It remains to strain the decoction through gauze - the drug is ready. Now it can be added to a bath with warm water or used as a compress, which is applied to the area of the affected joint.
Comfrey infusion is popular. To prepare it, one and a half glasses of slightly warm boiled water is poured into a bowl with 2 teaspoons of comfrey roots - it needs to be insisted for 8 hours. Then the water is poured into one container. Swollen roots need to be re-brewed with a glass of boiling water, stand for 10 minutes and filter. Then both infusions must be mixed - this medicine can be drunk half a liter per day in small portions. It has an anti-inflammatory effect on the digestive organs.
Comfrey - contraindications
Comfrey officinalis is a poisonous plant. In its composition there are alkaloids cinoglosin consolididine. Significant doses of these alkaloids, accumulating in the body, can provoke paralysis of the central nervous system.
Also, the internal intake of comfrey can lead to a carcinogenic effect, adversely affect the liver. Caution must also be exercised for external use - tinctures and ointments from comfrey are preferably applied to intact areas.
The use of comfrey medicinally by pregnant women is categorically contraindicated.
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