Symphytum officinale
True Comfrey ( Symphytum officinale)
The True Comfrey ( Symphytum officinale), also Common comfrey, medicinal comfrey, comfrey, bees cabbage, hares leaves, milk Wurz, harmful medicinal root, narrow root, comfrey, comfrey, Komfrei or Wundallheil called, is a plant belonging to the genus Comfrey ( Symphytum ) in the belongs to the family of Boraginaceae ( Boraginaceae ). It is used as a medicinal plant and grown.
- 6.1 Use in the kitchen
- 6.2 Use in Herbal Medicine
- 6.3 cultivation
- 7.1 Literature
- 7.2 Notes and references
- 7.3 External links
Description
Appearance, " rhizome " and leaves
The True Comfrey grows as a deciduous, perennial herbaceous plant, reaching heights of growth of usually 30 to 60 cm, rarely up to 1 meter. Often, several plants are together. The " rhizome " consists of squat, purple - brown main roots, which reach a length of up to 50 centimeters. Stems and leaves are stiff, bristly hairs or Symphytum officinale subsp. uliginosum almost bald. The upright to ascending, branched stems has long, fairly straight protruding, white bristly hairs ( trichomes ).
The wechselstängig the stem arranged leaves are large. The leaf base is running depending on the subspecies more or less significantly reduced with 2 to 3 mm wide wings on the stem. The bottom 30 to 60 centimeters long and 10 to 20 cm wide leaves are long-petiolate and possess a tongue-shaped leaf blade lanceolate to ovate with pointed top. The middle and upper leaves are sessile and have a smaller leaf blade, which are oval to lance-shaped with a length of up to 25 centimeters.
Inflorescence, flower and fruit
The flowering period extends depending on the location from May to September or October. Many flowers are borne in leafy, reichblütigen double wrap. The 2-6 mm long flower stems are nodding.
The hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and fünfzählig double perianth. The five up to about 7 mm long sepals are fused up to a quarter of their length and the sepals are lanceolate with sharpened top end. The most light - purple, red-violet dirty, violet, as well as yellowish- white, mostly 1.4 to 1.5 ( 1-2 ) cm long petals are fused and end with triangular Kronlappen with reflexed tips. The crown has a length of about 4 mm relatively long throat scales. It's just a circle with five stamens present; they are adherent to the corolla tube and do not project the crown. The 3 millimeter long stamens are at the bottom of almost as wide as about 3.5 mm long anthers. The ovary of most flowers is sterile.
Rarely Klaus fruits are formed, they decay into smooth, shiny, black part of fruits ( Klausen), the wrong with a length of 3 to 4 millimeters are ovate.
Synecology
The True Comfrey needed langrüsselige bumblebees for pollination. However, here too Imagine " nectar robbers " one. Kurzrüsselige bumblebees bite just where inside the nectar glands sit outside a hole in the wall blooms. It is also self-pollination.
The fruits are spread by ants.
Occurrence
The wide distribution area of Real comfrey in Eurasia ranges in West / East direction from Spain to western Siberia and China and North / South direction from the UK to Italy, and Romania. He is found in all provinces of Austria. In Southern Europe the True Comfrey is rare and often represent only naturalized in the north.
The True Comfrey indicates nitrogenous soils. As location sunny to semi- shaded, moist, nutrient-rich soils, especially clay soils, ditches or damp roadsides preferred, and wet meadows, banks, alluvial forests and peat meadows at altitudes of 1000 meters.
System
The first publication was in 1753 by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 1, p 136
From Symphytum officinale at least two subspecies are valid:
- Symphytum officinale L. subsp. officinale
- Comfrey Symphytum officinale swamp subsp. uliginosum (. A.Kern ) Nyman ( syn.. Symphytum uliginosum A.Kern, Symphytum tanaicense Steven ): The distribution area includes Austria. Hungary, Ukraine and Romania. The stems and leaves are almost bare. The leaf base is running only slightly down on the stem.
There are hybrids with other species, such as: feed comfrey ( Symphytum × uplandicum Nyman ) (= Symphytum officinale Symphytum × asperum, Syn: Symphytum peregrinum auct. ). It is sometimes cultivated.
Ingredients
Among the ingredients are an important ingredient allantoin and mucilage and tannins, asparagine, alkaloids, essential oil, flavonoids, resin and silica, Pyrrolizidinalkaloide.
Use
Use in the kitchen
The fresh comfrey leaves have a very high protein content; these proteins are biologically very high quality and quite comparable in their nutritional value, with animal protein. The alkaloids have been indeed demonstrated in animal studies to be carcinogenic; with occasional consumption in adequate amounts, however, there is no increased risk, as have studies in humans and animals arise.
In central Switzerland to bake the leaves in batter. The rough leaves of comfrey are particularly well suited for it. Its large leaves can also be used for wrapping.
Older plants have been previously added to the tobacco in parts of Austria.
Use in herbal medicine
In herbal medicine, the dried rhizome of comfrey is ( Symphyti radix) used. Preparations thereof are used as wound healing agents particularly for poorly healing wounds, fractures, tendonitis, or swollen glands. The application is usually done externally in the form of compresses or poultices of. These preparations have anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and promote the formation of callus. The ingredients allantoin, rosmarinic acid, mucilage, and probably a glycopeptide appear to be significant for the effect.
On topical application the harmful alkaloids are not absorbed, so that in general, under these conditions the use of four to six weeks, may be made in the year.
The internal administration has abandoned you because of the content of liver -damaging and potentially carcinogenic pyrrolizidine today.
There are now also finished commercial preparations that are free of alkaloids and can be applied indefinitely.
Cultivation
The True Comfrey is propagated vegetatively for cultivation. The lifetime of a plant about 20 years to be specified. Comfrey is very undemanding and drives every year even without care and in adverse treatment again. However, it is often troublesome to remove the plant again. It is excavated to with as much roots (50 cm and more). If the soil to warm and dry, the remaining root parts die off easily. Sterile cultivars such as Bocking 14 spread only vegetatively, others also have the seeds. If you want to prevent this, you can cut off the plant before the seeds ripen.
Comfrey grows rapidly; four harvests per year at 60 cm height are not uncommon. It thrives particularly well in nitrogen-containing, for example. in fertilized or mulched soil. It has large leaves. In addition to these medical agents Comfrey also contains plenty of nitrogen, the C / N ratio is 10:1. In addition, all parts of the plant have a high potassium content, provide the deep roots of its development.
Because of these properties it is well suited as a mulch or for the addition of vegetable manure. When comfrey is not cut before flowering, it also offers bumblebees food.