The plant is native to most of Europe and western Asia (Siberia), and comfrey has been naturalized in North America. Comfrey is also a popular garden plant and is now grown commercially. The drug material comes from crops, mainly from Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Hungary.
Comfrey: which part is used?
The medicinally usable material consists of the dried rhizome (rhizome) and roots (together Symphyti radix). More rarely, the aerial parts of the plant are also used (Symphyti herba).
Comfrey and its characteristics
Comfrey is a perennial perennial up to 1.5 m tall with bristly hairs. The leaves, which are also hairy, are long and pointed, and the coarse, reticulate leaf veins are prominent. The bell-like flowers are reddish to blue-purple, pinkish, yellowish or white.
The root material includes the longitudinally wrinkled root pieces, which are blackish brown on the outside. In cross-section, the whitish interior of the root pieces can be seen.
What the name comfrey means
The Latin generic name Symphytum is derived from the Greek “symphyein”, which means “to grow together”. This comes from the fact that it was once thought that bones could grow back together through the plant. This is also expressed in the German trivial name Beinheil or Beinwall (Wallen means “healing together of bones“).
Taste and smell
Comfrey root does not spread any particular odor. The taste of the root is mucilaginous, faintly sweet, and slightly astringent.
