Dr. Christopher's earliest experiences with Burdock were as a child. His mother had sent him "up the hollow" to take a message to neighbors who lived about a mile away. On the way, he discovered some large plants with big leaves and sturdy stalks. He gathered a large armful of the leaves and stalks and joyfully presented them to his mother so she could make some rhubarb pie. She laughed and told him it was burdock, not rhubarb. He was disappointed, of course, and they threw away the herb. If they had known, he recalled, they might have peeled, chopped and low-heated the stalks for a good green vegetable dish, reported to taste very much like asparagus (Herbalist, Apr. 1977, p. 113).
Dr. Christopher treated a man in the service while serving as a conscientious objector in a dispensary in Fort Lewis. The man came in for treatment with large boils all over his neck. Dr. Christopher lanced and drained them in the usual medical way, but it was not long until the man was back again with the boils the same as ever. Dr. Christopher gave a prescription, not to the druggist, but to the mess sergeant, eliminating fried foods, milk, meat, sugars, etc., only to serve him fresh fruits and vegetables. It was not long until the boils disappeared. Dr. Christopher also gave him burdock tea, as he was now allowed to practice herbally after his miraculous cure of the stubborn case of impetigo (see our newsletter on Black Walnut), and the boils cleared right up and did not return.

A man in Olympia, Washington had been in a wheelchair for a long time with arthritis. Each day Dr. Christopher would make up lots of burdock root tea for him to drink, and he used the leaves as poultices over his locked joints. The man went on the mucusless diet and the lower bowel formula. In a few weeks, he was getting some relief from the pain, and after a few months he was able to go back to work, walking the rounds as a night watchman. (Herbalist, op cit.).

Dr. Shook also related, at length, the story of a young man who was suffering for nearly a year with boils on different parts of his body, two under one arm and one under the other, several scattered about on his wrists, buttocks, and legs, and nine on his neck. It was the worst case of Furunculosis (boils caused by blood impurity) that Dr. Shook had ever seen.

He told the man to gather a large sackful of fresh burdock leaves and to dig up the roots of first-year plants. His wife washed and chopped the leaves and made them into a poultice with Oil of Eucalyptus and applied wherever the boils appeared. The roots were cleaned, chopped, and boiled, four ounces to a quart of water, for twenty minutes. This was strained and reduced to one pint and taken in small doses throughout the day till the pint was gone.

In three weeks, the boils were gone, and in one month the young man was completely well, although he had suffered so much for so long. The boils did not recur (ShoA:46-47).

During and after World War II, for a short period of time, herbs became hard to find in the wholesale houses. In Olympia, Washington, where Dr. Christopher first began helping people with herbs on a large scale, he would go out at about sunup and weed gardens for a few hours each day. This helped the family financially during those difficult post-war years, but he hauled away the herbs and had plenty of chickweed, burdock, marshmallow, plantain, etc., for his patients (Herbalist, op cit.).

"THEY ARE BUT BURRS..."

Most children learn about Burdock first of all as a wild plant, coming home with the tenacious burrs in their clothing. These burrs "hitch a ride on every switching tail, hairy dog, woolly sheep, skirt, or trouser leg" (Luc:151).

Children love to throw the burrs, or "sticky-backs" onto the backs of unsuspecting friends, where they stay until they are pulled off.

Highly prized as a medicinal plant as early as the Middle Ages in Europe, and even earlier in the Orient as a food and medicine. Burdock came over the sea with the Pilgrims and has stuck to man and his progress ever since. It follows civilization, journeying with man into all inhabited countries, covering most of Europe, Africa, North America and other countries. It has been considered a superior medicine "time out of mind" (Lloyd Bulletin #18, 1911).

In his work published in 1640, Parkinson wrote, "The juice of the leaves given to drink with old wine doth wonderfully help the biting of any serpents" (Hyl:377). Culpeper said that the leaves were cooling and moderately drying, good for old ulcers and sores. The seed, he continued, "being drunk in wine forty days together doth wonderfully help the sciatica" (Hyl:Ibid). He recommended the root, preserved with sugar, for consumption, stones, and the lax. The seed especially he recommended to break "the stone" (Ibid).

It was regarded a valuable remedy for stones in the Middle Ages, and called Bardana. As a rule, the recipes for stones continued some seeds of "fruits" of a "stony" character, as grommel seed, ivy berries, and nearly always saxifrage, that is "stone breaker". Even date stones were pounded and taken, the idea being that like cures like (Gri:145).

Culpeper lauded its virtues for many ailments, from bites of serpents and mad dogs to burns. Despite these historical recommendations, Burdock was never listed in the European pharmacopoeias of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, although it did merit listing in the 1988 U.S. Dispensatory as a diuretic, diaphoretic, and the treatment for chronic skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis (Luc:151).

"They are burs, I can tell you, they'll stick where they are thrown," Shakespeare makes Pandarus say in Troilus and Cressida. In King Lear we have a direct reference to Burdock, among other noxious and unpleasant plants! And in As You Like It, Celia tells Rosalind that the trials of this world are but burrs, caught in one's skirt if she treads out of the usual paths.

Vogel, in his book American Indian Medicine, tells that four tribes, the Otos, the Meskwaki, the Ojibwa, and the Potawatomi, used the root to treat pleurisy and combined it with other herbs to alleviate labor pains and to ease the stomach cramps. The Potawatomi used the root as we do, as a blood purifier and tonic.

The Missouri Negroes cured colic in babies, by hanging a necklace of Burdock leaves around the infants neck. In New England, the leaves were bandaged, point downwards, to the patients ankles and wrists to absorb fever. A few Burdock seeds fastened in a little bag and worn around the neck in winter are a gypsy preventative for rheumatism (Sanecki:91).

In Ireland, the roots of Burdock are used as a poultice for ringworm; however, the preparation must be carried out on the river bank opposite the patient in case the worm gets a whiff of the root and moves on (Ibid.).

The name of the genus, Arctium, is derived from the Greek arktos, from a rather exaggerated similarity of the burr to a bear, referring to the roughness of the burrs, and lappa, the species name, is derived from the Greek word meaning "to seize." Another source derives lappa from the Celtic llap, a hand, in account of the prehensile properties of the herb (Gri:144).

The plant gets the name of the Dock from its large leaves; the "Bur" is supposed to be a contraction of the French bourre, from the Latin burra, a lock of wool, such as is often found entangled with it when sheep have passed by the plants.

An old English name for Burdock was "Herrif," "Aireve," or "Airup," from the Anglo-Saxon hoeg, a hedge, and reafe, a robber, or from the Anglo-Saxon verb reafian, to seize. Culpeper gives as popular names in his time: Personata, Happy Major, and Clot-Bur (Ibid).

Other common names include thorny burr, fox's clote, beggar's buttons, hardock, harebur, harebur, burrburr, turkey burr, cockly cuckoo, button beggar's lice, buttons, love leaves, philanthropium, and that bardana already mentioned.

Burdock is one of the "patriarchal" herbs; we cannot say it any better than Dr. Shook did so many years ago: "Throughout the centuries, this majestic remedy for human ailments has stood the acid tests of human inconsistence, prejudice and ignorance, and is still today one of the most extensively used herbs by country folk and herbalists throughout the civilized world" (ShoA:49).

Burdock appeared in the United States Pharmacopoeia intermittently from 1831 until 1961. It was not dropped from the National Formulary until 1947 (Dawson:197).

BLOOD PURIFIER PAR EXCELLENCE

Dr. Christopher said that Burdock is one of the best alterative and blood purifying agents in nature. Since so many diseases originated and persist because of impure blood, we can see that Burdock forms the basis for many cures. Kloss recommended it as a specific for syphilis and other diseases of the blood (Kl:211), as he said it cleanses and eliminates impurities of the blood very rapidly. As with Dr. Christopher's repeated experiences, Kloss found it a rapid cure for boils, carbuncles and other skin diseases, especially since the skin is one of the first indicators that the blood has become impure, the skin taking up the burden of eliminating the impurities and toxins.

Similarly, Burdock increases the flow of the urine, and relieves congestion in the lymphatics, which, again, are one of the first indicators that the body needs cleansing.

As a specific for skin diseases, it has cured many cases of eczema, either taken alone or with other remedies such as Yellow Dock and Sarsaparilla. It can cleanse the conditions which cause canker sores and help clear up other skin problems, including infections. It is said to help clear up scrofula.

Externally, Burdock is also useful in skin disorders. When applied externally as a poultice, the leaves resolve tumors and gouty swellings, and relieve bruises and inflamed surfaces generally. The bruised leaves have been applied by peasants in many countries as cataplasms to the feet and as a remedy for hysterical disorders (Gri:144). The leaves can be useful in fever, bruising and applying to the forehead or the soles of the feet. For burns, shred the bruised leaves fine and fold in a stiffly beaten egg white to relieve pain and hasten healing (Hut:99). You can use Burdock as a wash or a steam for skin problems, and especially when combined with the tea used internally, it will help balance the deeper problems as well as relieve the symptoms (Sal:Burdock). The expressed juice of the leaves, the fresh leaves bruised, and liniments made by simmering the leaves or the roots with oil have been much used as popular medicines for burns, wounds, ulcers, and eruptions (National Dispensatory, 1887). Often the seeds, which contain about fifteen percent of a healing oil, are used in external skin preparations, as they efficiently cure the sebaceous and sudoriferous glands, restoring that softness and smoothness to the skin which indicates good health (ShoA:50)

For the sufferer from acne, Burdock provides a welcome relief. Internally, the tea cleanses the blood and promotes systemic balance and healthy action of the skin; externally, the poultice, salve or other preparation can relieve and soften the symptoms. Remember, though, that without faithful adherence to the mucusless diet and a generally healthy lifestyle, one herb alone cannot effect and maintain a miracle cure! Dr. Christopher also recommended, in addition to the blood cleansers, Blessed Thistle tea for those suffering from adolescent difficulties; the hormones in that tea balance the hormones and assist in eliminating "hidden hunger."

For large sore, inflammation or swelling, apply a hot fomentation (cotton or linen cloth soaked in very hot infusion) to the affected part, cover with plastic, leave on till almost dry, then make another application until the condition has healed.

In the case of swollen glands or very large areas of skin disease, you might apply the above fomentation just at night. If the skin problems cover the legs, you can buy cotton stockings and soak them in the hot infusion and foment them on the affected areas. Repeat this six nights a week, resting on the seventh, and continue on until healed.

As an alterative (an herb to cleanse the blood and tone the body), you need to use the tea over a period of time. If you wish to fast at change of seasons, or whenever you want to cleanse while strengthening, use Burdock alone or perhaps in combination with Yellow Dock. Drink it throughout the day, for at least a week for best results (Sal:op cit.).

Burdock decoction is said to prevent or heal sties, a pint taken in the course of twenty-four hours (Luc: 152). It is used in Russia as a broth to stop hair from falling out and to stimulate hair growth (Ibid.). The roots, boiled with alkali water, provide a shampoo to help stop balding. The Burdock oil is said to be a Russian hair tonic to strengthen and encourage the growth of new hair; this is only effective if the hair follicles are simply dormant and not completely destroyed. About six to eight months are said to be needed to a noticeable change (Hut:100).

The roots, being anti-scorbutic, are useful for scurvy and rheumatic conditions (Gri: 144). They are also good for removing excess and fatty tissue, assisting in weight loss, perhaps because they contain valuable minerals which help balance the system and let the body let go of its unneeded weight. We have seen people who have tried to lose weight on a natural foods diet without much success. After they take the teas of some of the great "patriarchal" herbs, such as Burdock, Comfrey, Red Clover, etc., they begin to lose weight. We postulate that the body might hold onto its excess weight until it receives those trace elements and nutrients that it craves.

There are many old recipes for the springtime tonic, dandelion and Burdock wine. The root is rich in iron. The Romanies wash it, slice it, boll it in water for twenty minutes, and then sweeten the water with honey and use the decoction as a tonic (Sanecki:1)

The seeds benefit chronic skin diseases. The infusion or decoction of the seeds assist in curing dropsy. especially in cases involving nervous system derangement, and kidney disease, especially if taken before meals (Gri:144). The seeds, steeped in wine, are said to help cure the bite of a mad dog.

Generally speaking, any disease which originates in a toxic condition can be helped by the use of Burdock root tea, whether it be skin eruptions, hemorrhoids (where the toxins build up so much in the blood that they swell up the delicate eliminative tissues), or even cancer, which is said to originate in bad blood.

The newly crushed leaves of burdock help alleviate the pain and swelling and itching of poison oak or poison ivy or stinging nettle (Herbalist: April, 1977:125). Interestingly, Burdock usually grows nearby wherever these poisonous plants grow, as do Mullein and Plantain, both also specifics to relieve poison oak or ivy. The old rhyme goes Nettle in, dock out, dock rub nettle out.

GOBO
One day we were visited by a Japanese friend, a very fine gardener and landscaper. He wandered through the orchards near our home, and came back for a shovel to collect the roots of the Burdock to prepare for his dinner.

In Japan, Burdock root is a valued food, and although the species is bred to produce a more tender and soft root for the Japanese market, where you can buy a giant, dark-brown "rat's tail" called Gobo. The roots of the first-year plant, which has no stalk, might compare in tenderness.

As written in the Shokuhin Kokuka, a Japanese food encyclopedia, Burdock was eaten as food and for medicine as early as 923 or 930 AD It was then called "Gobo-oshi," which was changed to other names, but today it is popularly known as Gobo (Herbalist, op cit., p. 119). It was first transported from China by the Buddhist monks, who brought many new ideas with them, including vegetarianism, which encouraged the use of new vegetables in the diet.

The Japanese extended the use of Gobo more than the Chinese and many use Burdock root in their everyday cooking (Ibid.). They consider it a source of strength and endurance, and something of an aphrodisiac as well (Hyl:378). The Japanese believe that Gobo helps pregnant women in stimulating blood circulation, eliminating excess water, and stimulating a good flow of milk (Herbalist, op cit.)

To prepare the root for cooking, scrub off its fibrous, dark skin to reveal the fleshy, white interior. Cook until tender. It is said to be good mixed with other vegetables, particularly carrots or onions. You may be interested in two traditional Japanese recipes for including the healthful root in your diet.

FRIED BURDOCK ROOT

1 tablespoon safflower oil
1 tablespoon dried shrimp
1 pound burdock root
3 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup natural soy sauce (tamari)
1 small red chili, minced
(optional: one carrot, slivered)

Saute dried shrimp in hot oil, add burdock root and stir fry for one minute. Add remaining ingredients; continue cooking over a medium flame until sauce is absorbed, about three minutes. Stir with rice; 6-8 servings.

BURDOCK TEMPURA

Batter: 1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1 1/4 cups cold water
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 egg (optional)

Mix batter just before making tempura. Cut burdock root into thin slivers; saute with a little water for about a half hour. Mix precooked burdock root with slivers or raw carrots. Dip a spoonful into batter and deep fry. Serve with tamari. (Both recipes from Herbalist, op cit).

As mentioned above, the stalks provide a delicious cooked vegetable when stripped and chopped and low-heated. Gather the stalks just as the flowers are forming. Use two waters, with a bit of soda in the first. The young leaves make a good cooked green (Hyl:378). Some people peel the stalks and eat them with oil and vinegar as a salad.

CULTIVATION, COLLECTION, PREPARATION

Since Burdock grows so widely, most people don't bother to cultivate it! It grows in almost any soil, but the roots form best in light, well-drained soil, and they are most easily harvested from such a spot. The seeds germinate readily, and if you wish to grow it your garden, you may sow them in either autumn or early spring, in drills 18 inches to 3 feet apart, 1 inch deep in autumn but less in spring. The young plants should be thinned to six inches apart.

Yields are about 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of dry roots per acre on Burdock plantations.

Dr. Christopher explained that the root goes deeply into the ground, as other deep-rooted herbs such as yellow dock, marshmallow, comfrey, etc.), so that it would be good to mix it among the vegetables in your regular garden. He said that during drought and dry years, the roots go deep into the earth to find their own water supply. They use the roots for "plumbing," claimed the old herbals, bringing water up to the surface. To hold this water from evaporating, mulch the ground well; you will have a built-in irrigation system! Surface water will not have to be added so often. You will also be raising a tasty vegetable and valuable medicine in your own bark yard (Herbalist, op cit., p. 113).

You may gather the leaves, seed stalks, flowers, seeds, and so on at your leisure, but the roots are another matter. They are difficult to dig, a posthole digger or slender spade being recommended (Hyl:378). The roots may extend twelve inches or more and be an inch in diameter, about a quarter of which is bark with the remainder being the desired whitish pith. A beet-lifter or deep-running plough are also recommended (Gri:144). Sometimes the roots extend two or three feet, making it necessary to dig them by hand. The root has a sweetish and mucilaginous taste.

Clean the roots well and cut them into pieces to dry on screens or towels in a shady place. When they are completely dry, so that they snap easily and no longer feel cool to the touch, you can store them in a dry, dark place, well-sealed. You can use roots fresh or dry to make decoctions to preserve with glycerine, and use them to make oils, poultices, ointments, etc. The leaves can be dried and preserved in the usual manner and the seeds store well after they are ripe and dry.

DESCRIPTION

Burdock is a coarse-looking biennial weed, with branching stems two to six feet high, with cordate-oblong, nearly entire or toothed, rough, petiolate leaves. The globose involucre has numerous scales appressed at the base and contracted to a recurved sharp point above. The numerous tubular florets are purplish or sometimes whitish; the akenes are flattened and have a pappus of numerous short bristles. The variety major has rather large heads with a smoothish involucre. The plant blooms from July to September. The root is nearly simple, thick, fisu-form, gradually tapering, fleshy, and when dry longitudinally wrinkled, rounded at the top, often with a tuft of white, soft-hairy leaf-stalks. It is grayish brown externally. The burrs are achene, globoidal, 1/2-1 inch broad, imbricated scale with hooked extremities that adhere to almost anything. The seed is obovate, oblong, angular, slightly curved, 1/4 inch long, brownish grey, wrinkled.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS

Burdock contains the valuable substance, inulin, also called alantin. It is a resinoie or camphor-like hydrocarbon which often reaches forty percent or more of the Burdock root. This is excellent used in the diets of diabetics or others suffering from blood-sugar related diseases; it is also known to be a cell proliferant.

The laboratory provided the following analysis of Burdock root:

BURDOCK (COMPOSITAE)
Arctium lappa
root

VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Ca .72
P .61
K 1.68
Na .07
Cl tr Mg tr
Fe .041
Mn tr
Cu tr
Zn tr

OTHER
inulin 46.8
alatin (allantoin)
lappin
galactonic acid
mucilage
resin 2.6
polysaccharides 3.2%
tannis 0.44

HISTORICAL

Mentioned by Shakespeare. Stalks stripped and eaten as asparagus. Eaten by Orientals as vegetable.

These chemicals will do no harm if taken in the whole herb moderately and wisely.

You might be interested to note however that Burdock leaves are said to cause dermatitis in sensitive individuals (Werber, L.F. External Causes of Dermatitis: a list of Irritants, ARch. Dermat. & Syphil. 35:129+, 1937). One woman was said to have been poisoned by high levels of all atropine-like alkaloid found in purchased Burdock root tea, with symptoms of blurred vision, dry mouth, bizarre speech and behavior, and hallucinations. However, this article said that the symptoms may have been produced by sleeping pills, an anti-depressant, or other preparations. It is the only case we have ever heard of Burdock root poisoning! Therefore it is most likely invalid. Atropine was not found in the above analysis. ("Burdock Root Poisoning," JAMA, May 18, 1978:2157)

DR. CHRISTOPHER'S COMBINATIONS CONTAINING BURDOCK

The blood-cleansing combination, Red Clover Combination Tea, contains Burdock root.

SHA Tea, for sinus, hayfever, and allergies, contains Burdock root.

CSK Comb, which is used for weight control contains Burdock.

AR-1, the Arthritis formula, contains Burdock root.

RELATED PLANTS

Fructus Lappae is similar in appearance and use.
Fructus Silvbi, Mary thistle, is also related in appearance and use.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grieve, M., Mrs. A Modern Herbal. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1980.

Hutchens, Alma R. Indian Herbology of North America. Kumbakonam, S. India: Homeo House Press, 1970.

Hylton., William H. The Rodale Herb Book. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1974.

Kloss, Jethro. Back to Eden. Loma Linda, CA: The Jethro Kloss Family Back to Eden Book, (n.d.)

Lucas, Richard. Common and Uncommon Uses of Herbs for Healthful Living. West Nyack, NY: Parker Publishing Company, Inc., 1969.

The Herbalist. Provo: Bi-World Publishers.

Salat, Barbara and David Copperfield, ed. Well-Being. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1979.

Shook, Edward E. Advanced Treatise in Herbology. Beaumont, CA: Trinity Center Press, 1978.