Burnet

Parts Usually Used

Leaves, root

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Salad burnet is a bushy, perennial plant produces nearly evergreen, fernlike foliage; 1-2 feet tall, the leaves compound, leaflets 7-15, toothed. Tiny purplish red (almost crimson) flowers, in oval or thickly rounded heads; blooms May to October.

Where Found

Maine to Minnesota, escaped elsewhere, mostly cultivated in herb gardens. The wild variety grows in England, especially in Huntingdon, Northamptonshire and near London. Dislikes high ground, preferring the moister soil of low, sheltered valleys.

Medicinal Properties

Astringent, styptic, febrifuge, hemostatic, alterative

Biochemical Information

Tannins, the leaves contain a sapanoside and flavones

Legends, Myths and Stories

Salad burnet has a nutty flavor that hints of cucumber, and is similar to borage in its taste and uses. Add to salads, cold drinks, soups, cream cheese, vinegar, or use as a garnish. Must use fresh leaves. Makes a tea from fresh or dried leaves, served hot or cold; once was used to flavor wine. Said to be taken as protection of the Plague and other contagious diseases in Pliny’s day.

The botanical name (Latin sanguis = blood) refers to its ability to staunch bleeding of wounds. Another species of burnet actually goes by the name of salad burnet (Potaerium sanguisorba).

Uses

Historical herbalists prepared teas from the leaves of this plant to address fevers and to act as a styptic. During the American Revolutionary War, soldiers reportedly drank the leaf tea prior to combat under the belief that it would prevent excessive bleeding in the event of injury. A tea made from the root was traditionally employed to check menstrual flow, bleeding piles, and dysentery.

Externally, practitioners applied root preparations to sores, swelling, canker sores, ulcers, moist skin conditions, wounds, and burns, while the powdered root was specifically utilized for severe burns.

Bibliography

The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 Country Home Book of Herbs , Meredith Books, Editorial Dept. RW240, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, IA 50309-3023, copyright 1994 Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A.

, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973 The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England.

, Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 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