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Contents:
Common Names
Parts Usually Used
Plant(s) & Culture
Where Found
Medicinal Properties
Biochemical Information Legends, Myths and Stories
Uses
Formulas or Dosages
Nutrient Content
How Sold
Warning
Bibliography
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Common Names
Bardana
Beggar's Buttons
Burdock Burrs
Burr Seed
Burrs
Cocklebur
Clodbur
Clotbur
Clothburr
Grass burdock
Great burdock
Hardock
Hareburr
Hurrburr
Lappa
Lappa minor
Niu bang (Chinese name)
Personata
Thorny burr
Turkey burrseed
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Parts Usually Used
Roots, leaves and seeds, the whole plant
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Burdock is a biennial plant 2-9 feet tall; the root is long, fleshy, gray-brown
outside, and whitish inside. In its second year, the plant grows a furrowed,
reddish, pithy stem with woolly branches. During the first year burdock has
only basal leaves. Both basal and stem leaves are oblong-cordate, heart-shaped,
green and hairy on top and downy gray beneath. The purple, thistle-like flowers,
1-1 1/2 inches across, appear in corymbose clusters from July to September.
The flowers are long-stalked, in flat-topped clusters. Seedpods (familiar burrs)
stick to clothing.
Common Burdock (Arctium minus) is smaller
than A. lappa; 2-5 feet. Leaf stems hollow, not furrowed. Flowers smaller (3/4
inch across) without stalks or short stalked; July to Oct. Used extensively
by Native Americans. The root and seed have a sweetish, slimy taste, the leaves
and stems are bitter.
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Where Found
Found in the northern United States and in Europe, along fences, walls, and
roadsides, in waste places, and around populated areas. A wide-spread Eurasian
weed used in traditional medicine in China, Japan, Europe, and North America.
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Medicinal Properties
Alterative, antipyretic, aperient, cholagogue, demulcent, diaphoretic, diuretic,
tonic
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Biochemical Information
Arctin, biotin, copper, inulin, volitile oils, sulfur, tannins, iron, manganese,
vitamins B1, B6, B12, and E, and zinc.
Seeds contain essential fatty acids, vitamins
A, B2
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Legends, Myths and Stories
This easily-grown plant is quite invasive. Was used as a blood purifier as far
back as Shakespeare's time; it is now used as a root vegetable, it has a taste
that combines potatoes and celery.
Once widely used in cleansing remedies, burdock is familiar for its hooked burrs, which readily attach themselves to clothing. This property is reflected in the herb's botanical name, from the Greek arktos, or bear, suggesting rough-coated fruits, and lappa, to seize. Burdock was a traditional blood purifier, often combined in fold brews such as dandelion and burdock wine, and it was once popular for indigestion. In China, the seeds, niu bang zi, are used to dispel "wind and heat evils"; they also lower blood sugar levels.
Sometimes planted in Japan, where it has been improved by cultivation for its enlarged parsnip-like roots, which are eaten as a boiled vegetable.
Sometimes planted in Japan, where it has
been improved by cultivation for its enlarged parsnip-like roots, which are
eaten as a boiled vegetable. Burdock is a common European weed; was brought
to America as a medicinal plant. It soon became widely scattered, because the
burdock seeds attached themselves to colonists' breeches, clothes and the fur
of animals. Millspaugh wrote, "the herb is so rank that man, the jackass,
and the caterpillar are the only animals that will eat it."
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Uses
Helps skin disorders, diaper rash, cradle cap, gout. Purifies the blood, restores
liver and gallbladder function, kidney, and bladder disorders, syphilis, gonorrhea,
diabetes. Relives inflammation. This herb is not narcotic.
The decoction or infusion of burdock root is aperient, but not for all individuals; for some it may even be constipative. Both the tea and the tincture can be used for stomach ailments. Burdock is also said to neutralize and eliminate poisons in the system. The leaves are not generally used but do contain a substance that stimulates the secretion of bile. If they are to be used for liver problems, use fresh leaves only. A decoction of leaves also makes a good wash for sores and may be helpful for acne. The fresh, bruised leaves are sometimes used as a remedy for poison oak or poison ivy. The seeds contain an oil that is used medically, but only with medical supervision. Traditionally, root tea (2 oz. dried root in 1 qt. water) is used as a "blood purifier", diuretic, stimulates bile secretion, sweating, gout, liver and kidney ailments, nephritis, hypertension, edema, rheumatism, lumbago. Nicholas Culpeper, the famous 17th century herbalist, wrote that it "helpeth those that are bit by a mad dog."
In China, a tea of leafy branches was used
for vertigo, rheumatism, swollen lymph glands, impotence, and (in tea mixed
with brown sugar) for measles. Externally, used as a wash for hives, eczema,
and other skin eruptions. Seeds are diuretic; used for abscesses, canker sores,
sore throats, fever, insect and snake bites, flu, gonorrhea, leprosy, scrofula,
sciatica, backache; once used to treat scarlet fever, smallpox, and scrofula.
Crushed seeds poulticed on bruises. Leaves poulticed on burns, wounds, ringworm,
ulcers, styes, boils, sores. Japanese studies suggest roots contain compounds
that may curb mutations (and hence cancer?).
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Formulas or Dosages
Collect the root in the spring or fall of the second year; when the plant has
a stem. The root may be used fresh or dried.
Burdock poultice: it is good on old skin ulcers (SEE ULCERS) and sores (SEE SORES). Make the poultice of the root, adding a tsp. of salt; it eases the pain of a wound caused by the bite of a dog. The leaves wilted by the fire, and applied to an external injury, will stop inflammation and ease pain; pounded and put on to a bruise or sprain, it will give immediate relief.
Decoction: use 1 tsp. root with 1 cup cold water. Let stand for 5 hours, then bring to a boil. Take 1 cup a day.
Tincture: Take 10-25 drops, in water, camomile tea, or regular tea, 3-4 times a day.
Juice: Grate the fresh root and add half
again as much water. Squeeze out the liquid. Drink 1 cup a day, a mouthful at
a time.
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Nutrient Content
Iron, manganese, vitamins B1, B6, B12, and E, and zinc.
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How Sold
Juice: Grate the fresh root and add half again as much water. Squeeze out the
liquid. Drink 1 cup a day, a mouthful at a time.
Powder: use 1/2 tsp. twice daily in a glass of water.
Capsules: take 1 to 3 daily.
Extract: mix 10 to 25 drops of extract in
liquid daily.
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Warning
Leaf hairs may irritate skin. Do not confuse leaves with the toxic leaves of
Rhubarb. Care should be taken if anemia exists.
