Burdock

Parts Usually Used

Roots, leaves and seeds, the whole plant

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.

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.

Medicinal Properties

Alterative, antipyretic, aperient, cholagogue, demulcent, diaphoretic, diuretic, tonic

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

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. ”

Uses

Historically, herbalists utilized burdock for a wide variety of complaints, frequently employing it as an alterative or "blood purifier" and as an agent to address inflammation, gout, rheumatism, and lumbago. Decoctions or infusions of the root were administered for stomach ailments and were thought to act as an aperient for some individuals, while being noted as constipative for others.

The root was also traditionally applied toward liver, gallbladder, kidney, and bladder complaints, as well as for edema, hypertension, and to stimulate sweating and bile secretion. In seventeenth-century England, Nicholas Culpeper documented its use for bites from rabid dogs. Herbal traditions also made use of the leaves and seeds. Fresh leaves were sometimes prepared to address liver problems or applied externally; bruised leaves were used against poison oak and poison ivy, while leaf decoctions served as topical washes for sores, acne, hives, eczema, and skin eruptions.

Poultices made from the leaves were applied to burns, wounds, ringworm, ulcers, styes, and boils. In Chinese folk medicine, a tea prepared from the leafy branches was historically employed for vertigo, rheumatism, swollen lymph glands, and impotence. The seeds, which yield an oil, were traditionally regarded as a diuretic and were utilized for sore throats, fevers, canker sores, sciatica, backache, and insect or snake bites, while crushed seeds were prepared into poultices for bruises.

Bibliography

The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England.

, Simon & Schuster/Fireside, Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , Copyright 1988, published 1992 American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements , by James F.

D. and Phyllis A. , 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants , by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, Crescent Books (January 27, 1992). The Magic of Herbs in Daily Living , by Richard Lucas, Parker Publishing Co. (1988). The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr.

David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988. The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974