Comfrey has an old country name that gives away exactly what it does – Knitbone. It’s a plant that goes to the site of a break and starts mending it from the inside out. In this episode, that’s the doorway we will step through. What does it mean to be the one in a community who knits, and how can we bring all parts of a community together to create real healing, not the kind that’s imposed from outside, but the kind that’s called up from within the break itself?
Comfrey offers us the wisdom of strength built through weave rather than rigidity, autonomy held together with interdependence, and relationship with the parts of ourselves that we may have deemed “enemy.” In this episode, we sit with an old myth, one that mirrors this same work of mending a broken world with many different, imperfect parts rather than any single fix. From there, we’ll turn to the body itself, walking through what comfrey actually offers as an herbal ally, along with an honest look at what the research shows about its gifts and its real, precise limits. And we’ll close, as always, with some questions to carry into your own journal.
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I’d love to include voices from the community! If you have a nature-inspired or herbal poem you’d like to share in a future episode, send it my way at: kim@joyfulroots.com. For more information and a list of plants, click here.
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🌿 Sources & Further Reading
Clinical Studies
- Kucera M, et al. “Efficacy and safety of comfrey root extract ointment in the treatment of acute upper or lower back pain.” Br J Sports Med, 2005 — PMC3747459
- Koll R, et al. “Efficacy and tolerance of a comfrey root extract in the treatment of ankle distortions: results of a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study.” Phytomedicine, 2004 — PubMed
- D’Anchise R, et al. “Efficacy of a comfrey root extract ointment in comparison to a diclofenac gel in the treatment of ankle distortions.” Phytomedicine, 2005 — PubMed
- Grube B, Grünwald J, Krug L, Staiger C. “Efficacy of a comfrey root extract ointment in the treatment of patients with painful osteoarthritis of the knee.” Phytomedicine, 2007 — PubMed
- Frost J, et al. “Effect of a blend of comfrey root extract and tannic acid creams in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.” J Chiropr Med, 2011 — ScienceDirect
- Jedlinszki N, et al. “Penetration of lycopsamine from a comfrey ointment through human epidermis.” Regul Toxicol Pharmacol, 2016 — PubMed
- Kuchta K, Schmidt M. “Safety of medicinal comfrey cream preparations: the pyrrolizidine alkaloid lycopsamine is poorly absorbed through human skin.” Regul Toxicol Pharmacol, 2020 — PubMed
Safety / Toxicology Studies
- Hirono I, Mori H, Haga M. “Carcinogenic activity of Symphytum officinale.” J Natl Cancer Inst, 1978 — Semantic Scholar
- Mei N, et al. “Mutagenicity of comfrey (Symphytum officinale) in rat liver.” Br J Cancer, 2005 — PMC2361893
- Mei N, et al. “Analysis of gene expression changes in relation to toxicity and tumorigenesis in the livers of Big Blue transgenic rats fed comfrey.” — PMC1683566
- European Medicines Agency (HMPC). “European Union herbal monograph on Symphytum officinale L., radix.” EMA/HMPC/572846/2009 — PDF
- European Medicines Agency. “Comfrey root — summary for the public” — PDF
- U.S. FDA. “FDA Advises Dietary Supplement Manufacturers to Remove Comfrey Products” (2001) — PDF
- Federal Trade Commission. “FTC Announces a Second Case Focusing on Safety Risks of Comfrey Products Promoted via Internet” (2001) — FTC.gov
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “Comfrey” — MSKCC.org
Myth
- “Nüwa Mended the Sky,” Huainanzi, trans. summary — New World Encyclopedia
History / Etymology / Herbalism
- Bergner, Paul. “Symphytum: Comfrey, Coltsfoot, and Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids.” Medical Herbalism 1(1):1,3-5 — medherb.com
- “History of Comfrey” — Herbal Legacy
- “Comfrey: ancient and modern uses” — The Pharmaceutical Journal
- “Comfrey (Symphytum uplandica x)” — her own piece on the plant, including the boneset-safe hybrid cultivar
- The Comfrey Conference — a full virtual event she hosted titled “Time to End the Fear,” featuring multiple herbalists making the case for comfrey’s safety. Worth knowing: this is explicitly advocacy-oriented (the title alone signals where she stands), so it’s a useful counterpoint to the regulatory caution rather than a neutral source — good to frame it that way if you cite it.
- National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) — Evans S, Avila C, Hawrelak J, Salmond S. “Report on the Safety of the Oral Consumption of the Pyrrolizidine Alkaloid Containing Herbs: Symphytum Officinale, Tussilago Farfara and Borago Officinalis,” 2019. This is a professional herbalist body’s own safety review, which makes it a strong, credible counterweight sitting between the industry advocacy pieces and the regulatory documents — nimh.org.uk
- Mountain Rose Herbs — “Comfrey Monograph: Benefits, Uses, & Controversy.” Worth including specifically because it’s unusually honest about naming the internal division within herbalism itself rather than picking a side, which fits the tone you’ve built through this whole episode — blog.mountainroseherbs.com
Books
- Energetic Herbalism: A Guide to Sacred Plant Traditions Integrating Elements of Vitalism, Ayurveda, and Chinese Medicine — Kat Maier — Joyful Roots Bookshop
- Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West — Michael Moore — Joyful Roots Bookshop
- A Modern Herbal — Maude Grieve. The classic 1931 reference, still widely cited for comfrey’s traditional use and folk names. Public domain, full text available free if you’d rather link that than a purchase.
- Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine — Harriet Beinfield — Joyful Roots Bookshop
- The Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide — Thomas Easley & Steven Horne — Joyful Roots Bookshop
