Plant · P-123

Russian Comfrey

Symphytum x uplandicum

Russian comfrey is grown for bulk rather than for eating - a fast-growing plant that produces heavy cuts of leaf several times a season, ideal chopped and dropped as mulch or compost material, with measured mineral content backing up its reputation as a nutrient accumulator. Its old reputation as a high-protein livestock forage does not hold up under research, though pigs and poultry can take modest amounts of the cut leaf; horses and cattle should never be fed it. The leaves and root also have a long medicinal history for wounds and broken bones, but the same alkaloids that make it useful there build up in the liver, so eating it is an occasional thing, not a staple. Once planted it is effectively permanent, since any leftover root fragment regrows and it cannot be weeded out.