I've been researching comfry and found enough information to create a small article. Comments and corrections would be nice. Here is the introduction: ---- Comfry has been called toxic and difficult to control. At the same time it is popular with some gardeners and herbalists. How is this possible? The answers to these contradictions and others will be explored in the following paragraphs along with some facts. One good place to start is with the word "comfry". The family of plants called comfry is quite diverse. The herbalists normally talk about one plant and the gardeners another. Both use the same word. This is also true with landscapers. They might talk about a low growing comfry which is very different from the Russian comfry most gardeners talk about. Russian comfry (S. uplanicum) is a hybrid which may have been used in testing for toxic compounds. Some herbalists claim that the traditional comfry (S. officinale) is what the tests should have looked at. Another problem is with the harvesting of comfry. The toxic substance "pyrrolizidine alkaloid" is highest in new leaves and at various stages of growth. It also varies with how the plant is grown, what part of the plant is used, and the type of comfry. This fact was ignored by drug companies in the US (they processed the fast growing Russian comfry). The confusion is further enhanced by breeders who have developed different varieties of Russian comfry. An English variety "Bocking 14" has been developed which does not produce seeds. This has helped control its spread and made gardeners happy. Other comfry plants have hybridized and been passed on by gardeners. When these plants cause problems they are simply referred to as comfry. more later, jeff
