Arctium lappa

Common Name: Burdock root

Comment: 70 gms fills 200#0.
Theme 4: Purify the blood.
Tincture: (1:3 @ 25%). 1021.5 h2o, 340.5 alc.
Usage: try and boil for 15 minutes; combines well with Urtica, Galium, Rumex, Capsicum, Allium.
Article: Burdock - [Arctium lappa]
Burdock so typifies Alternative health that perhaps it should be on its Coat-of-Arms or be the emblem of the holistic health movement. In a way, Burdock typifies all that is alternative in health.
Burdock has no extroverted medicinal properties that call attention to itself. The standard medicos, the allopaths, are unlikely to usurp this herb by mining it properties and flogging it virtues as their own in some refined,
drug-extract contrivance. They are unable to ban it for it is typically non-toxic. They are unable to control it for it is commonly wild, easily propagated, and difficult to eradicate.
Burdock exemplifies the striking difference in the two health paradigms by its use as a so-called "preventative" herb. In the Standard (allopathic) health paradigm, preventative health means detecting disease early
so as to make treating it easier. Pap smears for cervical cancer and mammography for breast cancer leaps to mind. The allopaths usurp the holistic language, in this case the word "prevention," and corrupt it toward their own symptom-treating ends.
Prevention in the holistic paradigm means living in such a healthful manner that disease is less likely to occur, and if it does occur then more intensive healthful living will remove the disease. Many would argue that there is no
disease that cannot be removed by increased health.
Burdock has no distinct medical properties that are directly discernible. It has slight antibiotic attributes, particularly as an anti-fungal in its fresh state. It does help promote elimination through its slightly diuretic,
diaphoretic (sweating), choleretic (liver stimulating), laxative, and expectorant (clearing the lungs) properties. It has a reputation for tissue healing and is used for slow-healing wounds and ulcerous skin troubles. But all
of these properties can be found to better effect in other herbs.
Where burdock shines is in its ability to cleanse tissues. In Standard health there is no parallel concept. Perhaps chelation therapy (banned in all States except North Dakota; allowed in B.C., Alberta, Nova Scotia, Manitoba) is
the nearest allopathic equivalent where a chemical, EDTA, designed to reaction with heavy metals is intravenously introduced into the body, allowed to react with toxins, and is then excreted through the urine.
Burdock stimulates the body to naturally cleanse its tissues of accumulated dross and clutter. So effective is burdock in signalling the body to cleanse itself that the sudden introduction of toxic sludge into the blood stream is
often a concern of Alternative practitioners. A dry, itchy eczema, for example, might be temporarily converted into an angry, weeping scrofulous condition, a.k.a. the healing crisis.
The typical therapeutic dose of burdock is 28 grams of herb boiled in .5 litres of water for 15 minutes. It may be made much stronger, or weaker, as the condition dictates.
Burdock is reputed to be one of the four ingredients in the well-known Essiac Tea, an alternative cancer treatment of good reputation. It is easy to see why burdock would be efficacious in cancer -- its many medical properties
and its significant cleansing property would work well against cancer which is a disease of systemic bodily poisoning.
Burdock can be combined with cayenne pepper or horseradish to make it more effective in acute disease. For chronic illness burdock combines well with garlic.
There is no single cure-all in disease; no magic bullet drug with which to expect miraculous recovery. Such ideas belong in the realm of the allopath.
In Alternative health, promotion of the body to a more healthful condition is always the preferred course of action. Burdock is an essential herb which may be used toward this end.

Purposes:   (See also Disease: Signs & Symptoms)

Used In:    (See Formulas)

Acne Decoction                                              
Alterative Tonic #2DC84                            
Blood Purifying Tonic #2DC80                  
Chorea Pills                                                  
Detox Decoction                                            
Essiac Formula                                              
Fibre Drink                                                    
Itch Ointment #2DC81                                  
Lymph Cleanser                                              
Night Sweat Pills #2DC45                          
Rheumatic Tonic #2DC80                              
Rheumatism Decoction #1DC178                  
Sciatica Tea #1DC179                                  
Skin Tonic #1DC131                                      
Skin Wash #1DC131                                        
Syphilis Tincture #2DC84                          

Properties:   

Antibiotic                              
Diaphoretic                            
Diuretic                                  
Expectorant                            
Healing Agent                        
Hypoglycaemic                        
Laxative                                  
Tonic                                        

Contraindication(s):   

Clinical:     10 ml per 100 ml tincture.

Clinicals:    

antidyscratic                        
CANCER                                      
hypoglycaemic                        

Constituents:   

Materia Medica:    (See Materia Medica.)