Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Burdock, or Clot-burr

BURDOCK, or Clot-burr, the Arctium Lappa, L. a well-known plant growing on the road sides, on rubbish and ditch-banks, bearing purplish blossoms in July and August.

The blackish, but internally white root of this vegetable, might be very advantageously employed in washing, on account of its saponaceous property. Before the flowers appear, the tender stems stripped of their rind, are boiled and used like asparagus; or eaten with vinegar and the yolk of eggs, rather than oil, in the form of salad.—The plant is browsed upon by cows and goats, but refused by sheep and horses; nor is it relished by swine.

Böhmer mentions the root of the burdock, among those vegetables from which starch may be extracted; and Schaefer obtained from the stalks a whitish green paper. Boys catch bats with its flowers. See the article Bat, p. 185.

In medicine, says Dr. Withering, decoctions of the burdock-root are esteemed, by judicious physicians, as equal, if not superior to those of sarsaparilla. The fresh root has a sweetish bitter, and somewhat austere taste; is aperient, diuretic, and sudorific; and said to act without irritation, so as to be safely used in acute diseases. The seeds have a bitterish, sub-acrid taste, and are recommended as powerful diuretics, when taken either in the form of an emulsion, or a powder, in doses not exceeding one dram.