12 



pale and woolly on the under surface. The flowers are purple, in 

 small, clustered heads, appearing in the second year, from July to 

 frost. These flower heads are armed with hooked tips, and the burs 

 thus formed are a great pest, attaching themselves to clothing and to 

 the wool and hair of animals. The seed of burdock is produced in 

 great abundance, one plant bearing as many as 400,000 seeds. 



Parts used. — The root alone is recognized in the United States Phar- 

 macopoeia, but there is a limited demand for burdock seed, and the 



Fiu. 2.— Burduck. First year's growth. 



leaves also are employed. Burdock roots and seeds are used in blood 

 and skin diseases, and the leaves externally as a cooling poultice for 

 swellings and ulcers, the latter being employed only in the fresh state. 



Burdock has a large taproot, about 12 inches long, fleshy, the out- 

 side blackish-brown or grayish-brown, the inside light in color and 

 spongy in the center. It is to be collected in the fall of the first year. 

 The roots must be washed, split lengthwise, and carefully dried. Dry- 

 ing causes the root to lose about four-fifths of its weight, and to become 

 scaly, and wrinkled lengthwise. Sometimes the bases of the leafstalks 

 remain at the top of the root in the form of a small, white, silky tuft. 

 The odor of the root is weak and unpleasant. 



The seeds are oblong, curved, flattened, and angular, dark brown 

 and sometimes spotted with black, and have no odor. These should 

 be collected when ripe or nearly so. 



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