Comfrey – Symphytum officinale

Comfrey flowers

How many shades of blue have summer skies?
As many as the comfrey by the river
Whose drooping heads turn purple to the eye –

 

By Mervyn Linford

Read the rest of the poem 

Dioscorides, Galen, Herodotus and Nicander (all noted Greek physicians) knew of comfreys healing properties. This plant is native to North America, Europe and western Siberia where it has been in cultivation since 400 BC. Even with the centuries of evidence in the effectiveness of comfrey, several countries have banned its use. Comfrey has been banned from therapeutic use in Australia, Germany, and Canada. And in the USA the FDA banned its internal use, because it not only damages the liver, it can cause liver cancer.

 

Now wait a minute…from what I have read a baby rat was tested, giving him enormous amounts of comfrey to eat everyday…yes he did develop these issues from the presence of Hepatotoxic  pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the leaves. But most people will never consume comfrey in these quantities…so do your research, make your own judgments…it is your health!

 

Over the centuries Comfrey has proven its value as a wound healer and a bone knitter, it strengthens the skeletal system, and the pituitary gland as well. Comfrey is anodyne (relieves pain), astringent, demulcent (soothing and softening), diuretic, emollient, expectorant, hemostatic (stops bleeding), refrigerant (cooling or reducing fever), and vulnerary (treating wounds and abrasions). It has been used with success in treating bleeding of the stomach, lungs, bowels, kidneys, and piles.

 

Everyone knows about the use of dandelion and chicory for a coffee substitute, but did you know that the root of Comfrey can be roasted and used with them to make a more robust flavor? A tea can be made from the dried leaves and roots; and the peeled roots can be added to soups.

 

It can also be used as compost for things like potatoes and tomatoes, providing the potassium they need. The plant also produces an olive green dyestuff from the leaves for use on wool.

 

Comfrey is sacred to Hecate, and can be burned with mugwort to aid in divination and concentration. It can also be used for protection of the traveler and their possessions, to aid in gambling luck, and in love spells!

 

Comfrey Salve:

 

Make a comfrey infused oil

Take 2 ounces of the infused oil and warm it over a double boiler    

Add 2 Tablespoons of grated beeswax 

Stir until the wax melts.

Pour into small jars.                                  

Common Lungwort – Pulmonaria officinalis

Common Lungwort

April Show

Though the afternoon’s snow-cold breaths
          and gray vapors threaten
          to lower the curtain
          flowers keep bursting on stage.
          Magnolia’s tight rose buds
          fan out to pink confections
          Forsythia leaps
          graceful arcs of yellow
          Pieris dangles blushing clusters
          like exotic fruit.
          From shy mauve Lungwort
          uncoiling under somber Juniper
          to Rhododendrons –
          fuchsia, orange and red –
          promenading in the spotlight
          all the cast has caught
          the rhythm of the caper
          a chorus line in Spring’s
          irrepressible choreography.

By Violet Nesdoly

 

This native of Europe is more valued for its mound forming character and foliage than for its dainty blue flowers. It is a great addition to the shade garden, popping the blue flowers in early spring to catch your attention. Following the Doctrine of Signatures this plant was used for centuries to treat diseased lungs!

 To use this for the treatment of bronchitis make a tea or a tincture from the leaves that were gathered during the blooming period. It also has cleansing properties, therefore it can be used for the digestive system, for diarrhea, and for cystitis.

The leaves can be used in a salad or as a pot herb.

Siberian Bugloss – Brunnera macrophylla

Siberian Bugloss

Siberian bugloss

such an unattractive name

for something

so light and pretty

and unabashedly blue

By Angela Leuck

@ her blog titled A Poet in the Garden

http://acleuck.blogspot.com/2009/05/blossom-viewing.html

 

This perennial shade lover is native to Eastern Europe, specifically Siberia. It is often called False Forget-me-not due to the resemblance of the flowers. It is often grown in shade gardens, where it remains a nicely rounded clump of interesting foliage through the growing season. It looks wonderful with Astilbe, Barrenwort, Bergenia, Bleeding Heart, Coral Bells, Japanese Painted Fern, Foamflower, Hosta, Jacob’s Ladder, Lamium, Lungwort, and Solomon’s Seal as companions.

The species Bugloss is used for making a red dye from the roots; leaves, flowers and root dyr used for food; and all parts are used to treat cuts, bruises, phlebitis, and to treat coughs and bronchitis. But no reference is found for the cultivars uses!

This variety is most valued for its use as a ground cover and for its spring blossoms of blue that dance above the plant in the slightest breeze!

Virginia Bluebells – Mertensia virginica

Virginia Bluebells

A fine and subtle spirit dwells
In every little flower,
Each one its own sweet feeling breathes
With more or less of power.
There is a silent eloquence
In every wild bluebell
That fills my softened heart with bliss
That words could never tell…

By Anne Bronte

 

Often found growing in rich, wooded bottomlands this spring ephemeral is found through most of eastern North America. The bell flowers change color having several colors on the plant simultaneously. The buds are pink, and the flowers begin with a pinkish color cast that quickly turns blue.

The Cherokee used this plant for the treatment of whooping cough and consumption (Tuberculosis). The Iroquois also used this plant, but used a compound infusion of the roots as an antidote for poisons, and a decoction of the roots for the treatment of venereal diseases.

Listed as Threatened in Michigan and Exploitably Vulnerable in New York this plant is best taken home from the wild in the lens of your camera, and the physical plant left alone to continue to grow!

Pride of Madeira – Echium candicans

Pride of Madeira

This biennial or tender, short lived perennial is endemic (found natively only on Madeira) to the Island of Madeira, which lies 400 km north of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. In Victoria, Australia it is considered a “high weed risk.” In California it is declared an invasive species in the Palos Verde Peninsula, San Dimas Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, the San Rafael Hills, and at the San Elijo Lagoon.

This plant will grow 6 feet tall and at least that large around; it blooms in spring. Beginning in June and continuing until fall, these 20” long flowering racemes are very attractive to butterflies and bees who relish the nectar.

This plant is one of the many Viper’s Buglosses around the world. The seeds of E. candicans are known to be very high in gamma-linoleic acid or GLA, which is a very useful and popular health supplement. The leaves of the plants are also used in herbal medicine as infusions to treat headaches, fevers and coughs, as well as for their diuretic properties.

Pride of Madeira may be poisonous if consumed and the plant is covered with bristles which may irritate the skin if the plant is touched No part of the plant is edible. Pride of Madeira may also be toxic to animals and people if the plant is consumed and caution should be taken when handling plants.

Virginia Bluebells – Mertensia virginica

Virginia Bluebells are often found in the moist areas of nature…rich, wooded bottomlands, along streams, and wooded valleys. They are spring ephemeral plants (blooming for a short time and then going dormant) they need to be planted with other plants that will then grow in to fill their space in the shade garden.

I first saw these pretty pink and blue bells at Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square, Pennsylvania. They had been planted under the shade of old, large trees.

The Bluebell was used by Native Americans to treat consumption, whooping cough, and as a general tonic when made into a strong tea. There is no indication of it being used as food.

It is pollinated, and lovingly visited by hummingbirds, bee flies, butterflies, skippers, and Sphinx moths, including hummingbird moths. They are also visited by honeybees, bumblebees, Anthophorid bees, Mason bees, large Leaf-Cutting bees, and Miner bees which are seeking nectar, and thereby pollinate the flowers!