Comfrey, Vervain and Mints 209would fall into that category. The 56 records remaining can be classified for
the most part into four broad groups: rheumatism and allied complaints
(which the leaves have a reputation for relieving, though at the cost of large
blisters); nasal and bronchial infections; boils; and wounds and cuts.
In Britain none of these four subsidiary categories of use seems to be on
record from Scotland, where comfrey probably never grew wild in earlier
times, though in the nearby Isle of Man a decoction of roots and stems has
been drunk to get rid of phlegm^11 and the leaves bound on cuts to first draw
foreign matter out and then heal them.^12 The English records traced for the
application of the plant to colds and the like, however, are all from the south-
ern half of the country (Devon,^13 Gloucestershire,^14 Norfolk^15 ), though those
for treating the rheumatism group (Devon,^16 Suffolk,^17 Caernarvonshire^18 )
and for poulticing boils (Norfolk,^19 Shropshire,^20 Lancashire^21 ) are more
scattered, while the applying of an ointment made from the root to open
wounds appears to be peculiarly East Anglian (Essex and Norfolk^22 ). Apart
from those, the only more minor use noted in Britain has been for leg ulcers
(Norfolk,^23 Westmoreland^24 ).
Ireland’s speciality among the four subsidiary categories is applying the
plant to wounds and cuts. Records have been picked up for that from seven
counties there, all but two of them along the mid-western coast. The Irish
records for treating colds and the like come from rather more counties than
in England (Cavan,^25 Meath,^26 Sligo,^27 We x f o r d ,^28 Kerr y^29 ) and the same is
true of the poulticing of boils (Cavan,^30 Mayo,^31 Kilkenny,^32 Kerr y^33 ), but
comfrey’s use for rheumatism has been noted only from Sligo.^34 As so often,
though, doubtless as a result of the more intensive investigation to which Ire-
land has been subjected, especially in the 1930s, that country has yielded a
greater range of rare, minor applications: to toothache in Kilkenny,^35 kidney
trouble in Tipperary^36 and warts and all manner of skin complaints in Lim-
erick.^37 There is also an Irish record of the juice being rubbed into the face to
improve the complexion^38 ; like other astringent herbs this one had a role as
a cosmetic as well, even if a tiny one apparently.
Symphytum tuberosum Linnaeus
tuberous comfrey
central and southern Europe, Asia Minor; introduced into North
America
There is arecord ofSymphytum tuberosumfrom Aberdeenshire, whereS. offi-
cinaleis much the scarcer of the two species, being valued for fractures, too.^39