Burdock
Scientific Name: arctium lappa, from the Greek word for bear (arctos) and the Latin lappa meaning burr.
Description: Burdock is a very common weed with burrs for seeds. It grows along paths, stone walls and around deserted farm buildings, as well as almost any other place where its tenacious roots can take hold. A biennial or perennial two to eight feet in height, the burdock plant grows leaves as large and broad as rhubarb leaves, although the green stalks taste like asparagus rather than like the tangy pie-plant it resembles.
Medicinal Properties: This herb works to purify the blood without nausea, gradually improving the body’s general nutrition. Burdock, taken internally, is diuretic; the seeds in particular are thought to strengthen and encourage kidney action. It is diaphoretic, promoting perspiration. Burdock contains polyacetylenes which kill disease-causing bacteria and fungi (dried burdock contains less of these chemicals). It may decrease mutation in cancerous cells by means of arctigenin, which is thought to be an inhibitor of tumor growth. This versatile herb has an unexplained anti-poisoning effect as demonstrated when certain research animals fed burdock were subsequently protected against a series of toxic chemicals. Burdock extracts may lower human blood sugar levels and are thought to exhibit estrogenic activity and nourish lymphatic system.
Historical Uses: Medicine men drank a brew of bitter burdock to help them concentrate in their meditations. Pioneers used burdock to treat gonorrhea, syphilis, gout and cancer. Records tell of fourteenth century physicians who used burdock leaves pounded in wine to treat leprosy. The plant is touted by an early English herbalist as an antidote for snakebites and the bite of mad dogs. Curiously, burdock’s historical uses also include a sort of herbal irrigation–the plant’s deep roots were thought to bring water up for use by other garden plants in drought years.
Burdock is most commonly used today as a blood purifier or alterative. It has helped people with a variety of chronic skin diseases, including psoriasis, acne and eczema. It may also be useful for boils, pox and other eruptions. Burdock is one of our important anti-cancer herbs as well and is included in most of the popular anti-cancer herbal formulas on the market today.
Burdock has several qualities to recommend it for topical application. A cooling poultice of the leaves may be used to soothe skin burns, hemorrhoids and ulcers. Burdock leaf poultices along with burdock root tea are prescribed for arthritic joints. The plant’s seed or root formulas may be taken internally as well as externally; the leaves, however, are too bitter for ingestion.
Burdock is extremely safe to use, having been utilized as a food by Native Americans and by the Orientals. Warnings about possible “burdock poisoning” originated from one instance where some individuals ingested burdock which appears to have been adulterated with belladonna. There is no cause for concern if you are buying burdock from any reputable herb company.
Burdock can be taken in doses of one to four capsules from two to three times daily as required. It is also a common ingredient in many formulas for skin conditions and chronic ailments.
Sources
“Burdock” by Dr. John R. Christopher, M.H. in Herbalist (Vol. II, No. 4, 1977).
“The Great Burdock” by Uri Bentlov in The Herbalist (June 1978).
The Healing Herbs by Michael Castleman (Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, 1991).
Herbs That Heal by Michael A. Weiner, Ph.D. and Janet Weiner (Mill Valley, California: Quantum Books, 1994).
Family Guide to Natural Medicine, edited by Alma E. Guinness (Pleasantville, New York: The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., 1993).
Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West by Michael Moore (Santa Fe, New Mexico: The Museum of New Mexico Press, 1982).
