Burdock (Arctium lappa)


Updated 4 January 2024

Other botanical names

  • Arctium majus Bernh, Lappa major Gaertn

Common names

  • Great burdock, Common burdock, Edible burdock

Common origins

  • Temperate regions of Europe, Asia and America

Botanical classification

  • Kingdom: Plantae 
  • Division: Magnoliophyta 
  • Class: Magnoliopsida 
  • Order: Asterales 
  • Family: Asteraceae 
  • Genus: Arctium

Components

Root
  • Polysaccharides: inulin (25 to 50%)
  • Mucilages
  • Mineral salts: potassium, calcium and magnesium salts
  • Phenolic acids: caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid
  • Polyunsaturated compounds (polyines, polyenes) responsible for antibiotic and antifungal properties
  • Sesquiterpene lactones (arctiopicrin) = bitter principles (especially in the leaves), lappaphenes
  • Sterols (phytosterols), triterpenes
  • Lignans: arctiin, arctigenin
Tannins
  • Essential oils

Parts used

  • Mainly root, leaves

Organoleptic properties

  • Odour: odourless to faint, fairly unpleasant 
  • Taste: sweet, mucilaginous, bland, slightly bitter, astringent

Properties

  • Great skin dehydrator, depurative, diuretic, sudorific 
  • Facilitates the elimination of heavy metals, detoxifying
  • Hepatoprotective
  • Choleretic
  • Hypoglycaemic
  • Hypocholesterolaemic
  • Laxative
  • Antimicrobial, antifungal
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Antioxidant
  • Emollient
  • Immunomodulating
  • Anti-rheumatic
  • Sudorific
  • Antipruritic, healing, resolving (leaves)

Indications

Infectious dermatoses:

Dry dermatoses:

Other indications:

Precautions / Contraindications

  • Known allergy to Asteraceae
  • No known interactions. Possible theoretical interaction with anticoagulant treatments and those used in diabetes.
  • Avoid in people with urinary stones
  • Avoid in pregnant women

How to use / Current dose

  • As a decoction: add 30-40g of dried, chopped roots to 1 litre of water; boil for 5-10 minutes, then filter. Drink 2 to 3 cups a day as part of a 3-week detox.
  • Often used in a mixture with other depurative plants (dandelion, wild pansy, artichoke, couch grass, lime sapwood, birch, etc.).
  • As a mother tincture (MT), alcoholic, EPS (fresh plant extracts preserve the active ingredients of the plant and are more effective): 30 to 40 drops in a glass of water in the morning and evening (MT) or 5 ml in the morning in a large glass of water (EPS).
  • Root powder capsules
  • As a compress (leaves, roots): after crushing and heating, put on a cloth and apply to the dermatosis (eczema, psoriasis, etc.).

Cosmetic use

  • Oily skin, acne, darting, furunculosis and other skin problems: decoction (root and leaves), liquid extract, MT (diluted 1/10 in lukewarm water) applied externally.
  • Dry seborrhoea of the scalp, alopecia: lotion or compress of powdered root and leaves.

Cooking

  • Burdock root can be eaten raw or cooked. It has a pleasant artichoke flavour and a sweet taste due to the inulin, and can be cooked like black salsify, sautéed or au gratin.
  • Cut into pieces and roasted, it can be used as a coffee substitute, like chicory.
  • The young leaves, blanched to remove the bitterness, can also be used in salads.
  • The young shoots can be steamed and eaten like asparagus.

Additional information

Habitat and botanical description

Burdock is a large, very hardy biennial herbaceous plant with a corrugated stem that can grow up to 1.5m high. Its long, brown, fleshy taproot with white flesh is edible.
It has large, heart-shaped, alternate, long-stalked leaves, green on top and covered with whitish hairs on the underside, which become smaller as they approach the top.
The inflorescence consists of corymbs of large spherical heads with purple to violet flowers and outer bracts ending in hooks, forming a spiny ball called a "moth".
The fruits are long, compressed achenes with a short tip.
It grows on uncultivated fallow land near dwellings, roadsides and forest clearings that are rich in nitrogen, and likes to be exposed to the sun. It prefers calcareous soils and can grow at altitudes up to 1800m.

Harvest time

The roots are harvested in the spring of the 2nd year before flowering (March-April) or in the autumn of the 1st year (October). They are washed, cut into 2-3 cm lengths and dried in the sun. The fresh root can be harvested at any time.
The leaves and flowers are harvested in June-July.

Mythology / History / Anecdotes and traditional virtues

The genus "Arctium" comes from the Greek "arktikos" (bear), possibly referring to its shaggy, "unkempt" appearance. "Lappa" comes from the Greek "lambanô" (to cling to), alluding to the hooked flower heads ("teignes") that help it spread by clinging to the fur of animals (zoochory), but also to the clothes of hikers. It was this observation that led to the invention of Velcro® in 1948.
Burdock is one of the oldest remedies used by many ethnic groups around the world. Described in ancient pharmacopoeias as a diuretic, sudorific, blood purifier, laxative, astringent and pectoral, its virtues were traditionally used in ancient times for skin diseases such as leprosy, scabies and syphilis, and for its effects on rheumatism and asthma. In Chinese medicine, it is used as an antitoxic agent to facilitate the elimination of heavy metals.
Its dried flowers, mixed in a burlap sack with dung, rotten eggs or other foul-smelling food, were used in "voult" ceremonies.
The root is also grown and eaten as a vegetable.