Burdock
(Arctium lappa L.=Great Burdock and Arctium minus Bernh.=Lesser Burdock, Compositae)
Also called: Lappa, Lappa Hill, Beggars Burr, Beggar's
buttons, Thorny Burr, Clotbur, Hardock, Larebur, Turkey Burr, Personata and
Happy Major. The burs of this dock are sometimes called Cockle buttons, Cuckle
buttons.
The botanical name Arctium is derived from arklos, a bear relating
to the roughness of the burs, and Lappa is from labein, to seize.
Description: Handsome biennial plant, the stem grows from
3 to 4 feet, sometimes up to 2m (6ft) high, forming a basal rosette of leaver
in the first year and, in the second year, flowering axes.
Roots up to 5cm (tin) thick and more than 1 m (3ft) long, growing vertically
in the soil, brownish-grey and have a slightly sweet taste.
The leaves are large, often 18-20 inches long, and look rather like those
of rhubarb and they are whitish underneath. Ovate, petilate; margin distantly
toothed or undulate.
Flowers red, in capitula 2-5cm (0.8-2in) in diameter; each involucral bract
terminating in a stiff, spreading hooked tip like thistles and purple in colour
and grow on short stems often at the leaf joint.
They are lobular with burs that can stick to clothing.
The fruits erroniously called seeds) are brownish-grey and wrinkled.
The leaves and stems have a bitter taste.
Flowering: July-September.
Part Used: Root, fresh or dried; rarely also the leaves and the fruits.
Habitat and Collection: This plant grows in large quantities
in fairly damp places, along roadsides and about old buildings on waste ground,
in uncultivated places near stables, throughout Britain and Europe, western
Asia and the United States.
Cultivated from seeds at 50cm (20in) intervals.
Collected from first-year plants in autumn and from second-year plants in
spring.
The roots are split longitudinally and are dried at less than 70 C (158 F)
Constituents and Action: Burdock contains a small amount
of volatile oil, resin and several antibiotic substances.
It is diuretic and increases the resistance of the body to infections.
It is believed, without any justification, to promote the growth of hair.
This herb is one of the best blood purifiers, it rapidly cleanses and eliminates
impurities from the blood.
The seeds of this plant are very efficacious and have a great influence on
the skin as they are of a very oily nature.
They affect both the sebacious and the sudoriferous glands, and they restore
smoothness and a healthy action to the skin.
Burdock tea will, if taken freely, clear all kinds of skin troubles such as
boils, carbuncles, burns and wounds.
A very old herbalist said he found it almost a specific remedy for psoriasis,
if drop doses of the fluid extract were taken regularly for 2 to 3 months.
Burdock has affected a cure in many cases of eczema and it is on record that
after nearly two years of suffering a patient, who had tried nearly everything
else, had her skin cleared in four weeks after taking this herb.
The root in decoction is an excellent remedy for skin troubles of the scaly,
itching, vesicular, pimply and ulcerative character. By cleansing the blood
styes on the eyelids, boils and carbuncles are prevented.
Culpeper said: 'The Burdock leaves are cooling, moderately drying and
discussing withal, whereby it is good for old ulcers and sores ... the leaves
bruised with the white of an egg and applied to any place burnt with fire,
taketh out the fire, gives sudden ease, and heals it up afterwards'.
Forms available: Capsules, tablets, liquid extracts, tinctures.
Uses: Water retention, detoxification.
Usage: Generally taken in the form of an extract or decoction
(boil for 10 minutes 2-3 tablespoonfuls of finely chopped drug with 0.5 litre
(1 pt) of water) or as a powder (1 teaspoonful in water thrice daily) for
suppurations and skin eruptions.
Both root and seed may be taken as a decoction of 1 oz. to 1½ pints of
water boiled down to a pint.
A wineglassful should be taken 3 or 4 times daily. 10 to 20 drops of the fluid
extract seed should be taken in water three times daily.
A tea is made by infusing ½ oz. of the herb in ¼ pint of boiling
water for fifteen minutes.
A wineglass of the fluid should be taken after every meal.
Caution: No hazards are known.
It's thought that one case of human poisoning attributed to burdock was caused
by contamination with or mistaken use of belladonna root.
If wild-harvestng herbs yourself, it is
essential to be absolutely certain of the identification of the plants and
their purity.
The young stalks were boiled and eaten in salads in olden days.
