One of the oddities of D&D has always been that you can't, just using the systems provided, lop off limbs without resorting to some sort of magic (like a sword of sharpness) or DM fiat. All you can do is inflict hps and kill (or, in some cases, KO). So, just restoring hps doesn't restore limbs, and there are specific abilities (like regeneration or the regenerate spell) that do.Honest question: a Cleric finds a traveler down the road who has just escaped from a goblin cave, where he's been kept alive while the monsters slowly ate small pieces of him. Can the Cleric just cast Cure Wounds and make his fingers and/or hand magically reappear?
I'm leaning towards "no", but I don't know if this was addressed somewhere in old editions.
Saying that regenerate can grow back the body parts over time does not mean that other spells can't regrow missing body parts. The spell descriptions are silent. As such, it is up to the DM to decide, although not allowing it except for with regenrtion certainly makes sense.
What about a case where the person was born without a certain limb, say, an arm? Does the fact that the spells mentioned "SEVERED" limbs mean it won't grow such a person an arm?