The Use Of Burdock For Medicinal Purposes

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Burdock is a familiar and very useful plant

We often hear how they say about someone: "You are swollen." This expression means that a person hung up his ears like burdock leaves, trusted someone and made a mistake, went nuts. Indeed, the leaves of burdock are huge, they are perhaps the largest among all plants in the European part of Russia. And this feature is readily used by many gardeners.

I myself more than once plucked the largest leaves on burdock plants that grew wildly on the slope of a nearby reclamation ditch, in order to shelter the seedlings of squash, squash and other plants just planted in the open ground from the bright sun.

× Gardener's handbook Plant nurseries Stores of goods for summer cottages Landscape design studios

Of course, everyone knows that it is best to plant tender seedlings in cloudy weather, but if the weather is sunny, and the seedlings are outgrowing, then you still need to plant.

Better to do it in the evening. Everything is extremely simple: plant seedlings, water abundantly, and then from the south side, from where the bright sun will be shining at noon, insert a long petiole of burdock leaf into the soil with a slight slope towards the planted plant (if the ground is dense, you can make a hole with a stick for the diameter petiole). And a protective green screen - a burdock leaf - will stand next to the seedlings.

Then the burdock leaf, devoid of nutritious juices, will begin to lose turgor, lean towards the seedlings, covering it with a kind of umbrella. It will only be necessary to check all these "umbrellas" in the morning so that they do not crush the seedlings. After a day or two, when young plants take root, you can remove this dried up shelter.

This is the first little benefit that gardeners can derive from the familiar and sometimes annoying burdock (everyone knows its prickly balls containing achenes, which, after ripening, cling to clothes and are removed after walking in nature only after much effort). It is no coincidence that the saying among the people appeared: "Clung like a burr." In addition, the Latin name for burdock - lappa - means "to cling". But burdock is not so simple, it has many other useful properties, which will be discussed.

× Notice board Kittens for sale Puppies for sale Horses for sale

Plant features

Big burdock (Arctium lappa) is a biennial herb belonging to the Asteraceae family. Its other names are also known among the people: burdock, burdock, burdock. It grows everywhere in our country, it can be found near dwellings in villages, in garbage bins, along roads, in a garden, in a vegetable garden, along streams, in fields and at the edges of forests.

In the first year, this plant forms basal leaves on long petioles, and in the second year it expels a high branched stem (up to 120 cm and higher).

The main feature of burdock is a long taproot, which penetrates the soil to a depth of 60 cm and deeper (depending on the quality and looseness of the soil). The leaves of the burdock are also noteworthy, especially the basal ones - they are large, ovoid, up to half a meter long, and the leaves formed on the stem, as they approach the crown of the plant, decrease in size. From above, they are all green in color, and the lower part of the leaves is gray tomentose. Pubescence is present both on the stems and on the branches.

Burdock flowers are tubular, they are collected in large spherical baskets of red-violet color, and are placed on peduncles on the stem and branches. Burdock blooms in June-July, seeds ripen in August-September. After ripening, the achenes cling to the clothes of people passing by, to the hair of animals and are transferred to new places, and burdock multiplies. After the seeds ripen, in the second year of life, the big burdock dies, and its seeds that have fallen into favorable conditions begin a new two-year life.

The healing properties of burdock

Burdock has long been used in folk medicine. Almost all parts of this plant were used for medicinal purposes: the root, leaves and tops with flowers were harvested.

Procurement of raw materials

Herbalists recommend harvesting the root in the first year of the plant's life, then they have the greatest strength. Dig them up in the fall. If you didn't manage to dig them up in the fall, then you can do this in the spring - in the second year of the burdock's life, but only before the first leaves appear on it. The roots are dug out carefully, trying not to damage the surface skin, carefully peeled from the ground (not washed), cut into pieces and dried at a temperature of 40 ° C in country attics, where the temperature is quite high during the day, or at home. The leaves and flowering crown of the burdock are harvested during flowering and also dried in the shade in a ventilated room.

In general, burdock root was used not only as a medicine. It turned out that it is quite applicable in cooking. It was used and is still used boiled, fried, baked. Add to borscht and soups instead of potatoes, carrots, parsley. True, you can take not any roots, but only from plants of the first year of life. Used in cooking and young shoots of burdock, peeled, and young leaves - in salads and cabbage soup. It is known that in Japan, whose inhabitants very widely and skillfully use many plants for culinary purposes, now one of the types of burdock is specially grown in the beds.

But the main fame of the burdock was brought by its medicinal properties. In my younger years, working in the garden, I sometimes got bruises. On the advice of an elderly neighbor, I was looking for burdock plants, tore off its leaves and applied them with the bottom, felt side, to the bruised place. Then he wrapped it with a cloth and fixed it on his leg with elastic bands or a bandage and walked like that all day or made such a bandage at night. Burdock helped relieve pain and edema. One friend, who had arthritis, made the same bandages on sore joints - on the arms and legs.

And burdock root has been used and is used for rheumatism of the joints, gout, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, constipation. Preparations from the root help to cleanse blood vessels, have a diuretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, diaphoretic properties, they reduce uric acid in the blood.

The beneficial properties of burdock are explained by its rich and valuable chemical composition. Burdock roots contain mucus, essential oil, fatty oil consisting of palmitic and stearic acids, as well as inulin, tannins and bitter substances, glycosides, alkaloids, resins, protein, starch, sugar, mineral salts, vitamins C, groups B, E, D, carotene. Due to the content of polysaccharides in the plant, the deposition of glycogen in the liver increases and the insulin-forming function of the pancreas improves.

The use of burdock root in official medicine

The roots of burdock large in the form of decoctions and infusions are taken as a diuretic, choleretic and diaphoretic. Its preparations are also effective when used externally in the treatment of seborrhea, acne, eczema, itching and furunculosis.

Burdock root is included in diaphoretic charges, complex charges for the treatment of gout and metabolic arthritis. Burdock oil is also used in cosmetology - to strengthen hair in case of baldness.

Decoction of burdock roots

To obtain it, you need to place one tablespoon of dry burdock roots (10 g) in an enamel bowl and pour one glass of boiling water (200 ml). Then close the container with a lid and put it in a water bath for half an hour, often stirring the liquid. After removing from heat, cool the broth for 10 minutes, strain, and squeeze out the remaining raw material of the root. Bring the resulting volume of the broth to the original (200 ml) with boiled water. This broth can be stored in a cool place for no more than a day.

It is recommended to take a decoction of burdock root warm - 2-3 times a day, half a glass.

In folk medicine, the range of application of preparations of roots and other parts of burdock is much wider.

For example, an infusion of burdock roots is used in the presence of kidney and bladder stones, as well as gastritis, stomach ulcers and some other diseases.

Infusion of burdock roots

For its preparation, one teaspoon (this is about 5 g) of dry crushed root is placed in a thermos and poured with half a liter of boiling water. Insist during the night. Then the resulting infusion is drunk hot during the day. If there is no thermos, the container with the root filled with boiling water must be carefully wrapped overnight. Just before use, the liquid will have to be heated. Thermos is still better.

Big burdock decoction

It is used for baths and compresses for joint pain, as well as for arthritis, arthrosis, rheumatism. Such a decoction is prepared from one tablespoon of dry crushed burdock roots and two glasses of water. The roots are poured with water and boiled over low heat for half an hour, and then filtered.

Women can use this broth to strengthen hair and improve their appearance. Before going to bed, the broth should be rubbed into the hair skin for several months. They do it in two days. And then the hair will become thicker and silky

Burdock seed infusion

Its traditional healers advise taking it for constipation. The seeds are harvested as they ripen and can be stored for three years. To prepare such an infusion, you need to take 20 g of burdock seeds and pour them with a glass of boiling water (200 ml). After that, leave for 20 minutes and drain. Take an infusion of 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day.

Large burdock juice

It is obtained from burdock leaves plucked in May. They are washed, dried and immediately passed through a meat grinder, and then the juice is squeezed out through cheesecloth. It must be taken before meals, one tablespoon. The course of treatment is two weeks with a weekly break: take juice for one week, and then take a weekly break and take again a week. In chronic hepatitis, an annual treatment is recommended.

Such juice from fresh young leaves, mixed with crushed leaves, is applied to purulent wounds, ulcers, burns, bedsores, tumors, and cuts.

Burdock infusion

Its healers recommend taking it for gastritis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, for colitis and enterocolitis, hemorrhoids, chronic constipation.

To obtain an infusion, the fruits of burdock, together with the pericarp, dried in the shade, are ground into powder and then two tablespoons of the powder are poured with half a liter of boiling water and infused overnight. Drink a glass of infusion in the morning on an empty stomach, and in the evening - drink the same amount of infusion before meals.

Infusion of burdock leaves

It is prepared from two tablespoons of dry crushed burdock leaves. They are placed in a bowl and poured with half a liter of boiling water and insisted overnight. Then the infusion should be filtered and drunk 3/4 cup three times a day a quarter of an hour before meals or an hour after meals.

This infusion is taken in the treatment of hepatic and renal edema, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis and kidney stones, as well as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, prostatitis.

Burr oil

It is produced by the industry and sold in pharmacies and shops. This oil helps with burns, wounds, frostbite, hair loss.

You can also make this oil at home. To do this, you need to infuse chopped burdock roots in olive oil for two weeks.

Burdock ointment

Take 25 g of leaves and 25 g of burdock roots, chop them. Then pour them into a bowl and boil for 20 minutes in 100 ml of water. Then thoroughly grind everything in 100 g of butter. This ointment can be used to prevent and treat hair loss, burns, frostbite.

Contraindications

Like many other herbal preparations, it is not recommended to consume burdock and preparations from it during pregnancy and lactation. An individual intolerance to this plant is also possible. Consult your doctor.

E. Valentinov

Author's photo