By Steph Zabel
Herbalist, Ethnobotanist and Educator

September’s herb is a bit different than all of our past monthly plant profiles. This month we focus on the great green healer, comfrey. But, unlike all the other plants we’ve covered here, comfrey is meant for external use only, rather than for taking internally. (And I’ll explain why as we go along.)

Perhaps you’ve seen this lush, leafy plant growing in a garden, or even alongside the edge of a forest, where it has escaped cultivation and is happily growing in the partial shade. If you walk along the Somerville bike path you are sure to see some half-wild comfrey growing along the edges. In the summertime you’ll notice it’s lovely violet-hued flowers which are born on a spiral-shaped stalk and hang downwards like small bells.