HERB - herb toxicity

[Lynette K LaFontaine]

My interpretation of all this data is.  We don't ingest oil of wintergreen, and we don't do full body massages with straight undiluted oil of wintergreen.  Small amounts probably no more than 15% desolved in a non active carrier substance is acceptable for treatment to small body surface areas.
And I probably won't hurt myself by occasionally nibbling on small amounts of the plant (as opposed to the oil).
    I'd like to move on a bit but stay in the vein of plant toxicity for just a moment.
Someone, I'm sorry I don't recall who, mentioned that methyl salicylate was the culprit in comfrey and pennyroyal.  This seems unlikely.
 As per FDA comfrey contains allantoin, and the alkaloids consolidate and symphytocynoglossine which depress the central nervous system , it also contains mucilage and tannin.
The root has been shown to be carcinogenic when taken internally.  
I am not sure the culprit but I suspect the alkaloids.  Anyone care to comment?
    As for pennyroyal, according to James Duke's CRC  Handbook of Medicinal Herbs (former chief of USDA Medicinal Plant Resources Lab), both the American and European pennyroyal "oils consist of 85 to 92% pulegone (I don't know what pulegone is or does) and are, therefore, quite toxic, causing severe liver damage, even in relatively small amounts."  What is relative I don't know.  Comments are welcome.  If we have beaten this subject to death for most of the list, feel free to contact me directly. lklc at prodigy.net  
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