Comfrey, is she safe?

Today i harvested some comfrey leaves to infuse in oil so i can make a comfrey salve down the track. How green and good does that look? All ready to go in  a cool dark place to brew.
Reconnecting with her , Ithought Id address the much maligned plant. Is she safe?

There are two types of comfrey, wild comfrey (Symphytum officinale) and cultivated comfrey (Symphytum uplandica x , the x means its a hybrid). Wild comfrey is a smaller plant with yellow flowers. Cultivated comfrey is a large plant often surpassing 2 metres with blue or purple flowers. Symphytum uplandica x was created post the 2nd world war by Henry Doubleday as a survival food. People tend to be growing uplandica, and that is what can be sold in stores, mislabeled.

Just to confuse things a little more, the roots and leaves of comfrey contain different constituents. Comfrey root, like most perennial roots, contains poisons. Wild comfrey (Symphytum officinale) leaves contain some of the poisons but cultivated comfrey (Symphytum uplandica x) leaves dont. Comfrey leaves are protein rich, a great source of folic acid, many vitamins, minerals and trace minerals we need for a strong immune system and a calm nervous system. Comfrey ointment heals wounds, cuts, burns, itches and most skin problems.

I once cut myself with a razor, it would have needed stitches. I put a comfrey leaf poultice on the cut, replacing it a couple of times with pressure applied and it closed up and healed, so i look forward to making a batch of ointment and sharing it....even if its not harvested from our wee patch yet...