9 
The principal uses for which these plants are employed in medicine 
are briefly indicated, but none of the drugs mentioned should be taken 
without the advice of a physician. 
With the exception of the figures for dandelion and mustard, which 
were obtained from the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of 
Commerce and Labor, the imports are based on estimates furnished 
by dealers, and the prices per pound, while serving to give an idea as to 
what may be expected for 
the drugs, will vary from 
year to year, depending prin- 
cipally upon supply and de- 
mand. 
There are of course a large 
number of plants used in 
medicine that are not in- 
cluded in this bulletin, which 
is intended to cover only 
such medicinal plants as may 
be classed as weeds. 
BURDOCK. 
Arctium lappa L. 
Other common names.— 
Cockle button, cuckold dock, 
beggars’ buttons, hurr-bur, 
stick button, hardock, and 
bardane. (Fig. 1.) 
Habitat and range.—Bur- 
dock is one of the most com- - 
mon weeds. It was intro- 
duced from the Old World, 
and is common and often very abundant in the Eastern and Central 
States and in some scattered localities in the West, growing along 
roadsides, in fields, pastures, and waste places. 
Description—This is a coarse, unsightly biennial weed of the 
aster family (Asteracex), which produces during the first year of its 
growth only a rosette of large, thin leaves (fig. 2) and a long, taper- 
ing root having a diameter of from one-half to 1 inch. When full 
grown it measures from 3 to 7 feet high. The round, fleshy stem is 
branched, grooved, and hairy, with very large leaves, even in the 
early stages of the growth of the plant, the lower leaves often meas- 
uring 18 inches in length. The leaves are alternate, on long, solid, 
deeply furrowed leafstalks; thin, roundish or oval, but usually heart- 
shaped; with even, wavy, or toothed margins; smooth above, and 
82195°—Bull. 188—17-—2 
Fie. 1.—Burdock (Arctium lappa L.). Flowering plant. 
