Burdock root (Arctium lappa)
Description:
It’s a biennial herbage plant of the thistle family with a long tap root. Stem is woolly, upright and ribbed, it grows to a height of approximately 2-6 feet. Leaves are large, heart shaped and ovate, also petiolate. Flower-heads are almost globular enclosed by scales with hooked tips. Flowers are purple, they bloom in July and August. Roots which are gathered in the autumn of the first and second year are normally used. Odor is slight, taste is sweetish with a feel of sliminess. Roots contain polysaccharide inulin (about 45%), proteins (about 12,34%), essential oil (less than 0,17%), lipoids, palmitic and stearic acids, slime, sitosterol and also tanning, bitter, protein, resinous and other substances.
Indications:
1) Diabetes;
1) Nephro-, uro-, cholelithiasis;
1) Gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcer;
1) Retention of feces;
1) Rheumatism;
1) Tuberculosis;
1) Hemorrhoid;
1) Scrofula;
1) Joint pains;
1) Edema;
2) Uratic arthritis;
2) Dermatitis causing skin itch;
2) Furunculosis, abscess, eczema;
3) Any stomach inflammatory processes;
4) Stomach cancer.
How to use:
1) Pour 500ml of boiling water over 1 table spoon of dry powdered burdock root. Simmer for 10 minutes, sift. Take it all during the day before meals.
2) Apply compresses from burdock root decoction to the affected skin area. See paragraph 1 to make the decoction.
3) Eat 4 or 5 newly dug young burdock roots during the day for 2 or 3 weeks. Please note fresh roots start losing their useful properties in several hours after being dug out.
4) Grate and eat newly dug burdock root. If you can’t eat fresh root, drink fresh burdock juice, about 100ml a day.
Contraindications:
None.
Photos of burdock root:
November 10 2008 09:35 am | Herbals