A.  m .  J  our.  Pharm.  \ 
August,  1897.  / 
Burdock  as  a  Vegetable. 
417 
spread,  they  were  formerly  much  used  as  medicines  under  the  name 
Radix  Bardanae,  and  they  are  even  now  regarded  by  some  as  good 
blood  purifiers.  Perhaps  from  the  burr  of  the  seeds  the  plant  has 
the  repute  of  power  to  stimulate  a  rich  growth  of  hair,  and  an 
extract  for  this  purpose  is  made  from  the  roots.  The  peasants  from 
the  south  of  England  use  the  roots  as  an  antiscorbutic,  and  the 
leaves  are  employed  in  making  a  green  elder  ointment  for  the  use 
of  farriers. 
All  these  medicinal  uses  are  not  to  be  despised,  but  they  are  un- 
important when  compared  to  the  value  of  the  plant  as  an  edible 
vegetable  ;  since  the  kitchen  is  more  important  than  the  drug  store, 
the  cook  is  nearer  our  hearts  than  the  apothecary.  Even  in  Eng- 
land the  alimentary  value  of  burdock  was  not  always  despised. 
Sowerby  writes  in  his  "  Useful  Plants  of  Great  Britain :"  "  The 
stalks  of  the  burdock,  cut  before  the  flowers  open  and  stripped  of 
their  rind,  form  a  delicate  vegetable  when  boiled,  similar  in  flavor 
to  asparagus.  In  the  raw  state  they  may  be  eaten  with  oil  and 
vinegar  as  salad.  They  were  sometimes  candied  with  sugar  in  the 
time  of  Bryant,  as  those  of  Angelica  are.  They  are  slightly  laxa- 
tive, but  are  perfectly  wholesome.  The  roots  of  the  plant  are 
mildly  diuretic  and  diaphoretic,  and  have  been  used  with  advan- 
tage in  gout,  rheumatism  and  calculous  complaints.  The  decoction 
of  the  root  is  generally  employed,  but  the  seeds  and  leaves  possess 
nearly  the  same  properties,  though  the  latter  are  slightly  purgative. 
The  bruised  leaves  are  applied  by  the  peasantry  in  some  districts,  in 
cataplasms  to  the  feet,  as  a  remedy  for  hysterical  disorders." 
In  Japan,  burdock  grows  wild  in  several  places,  but  it  is  also  ex- 
tensively cultivated  as  a  vegetable.  Every  one  knows  and  eats  "  Go- 
bo,"  the  usual  appellation  for  this  plant,  although  a  more  refined  and 
almost  obsolete  name  is  "  kitakisu  ;"  sometimes  it  is  called  "  Uma 
(horse)-fuki  (Nardosmia)."  It  is  familiar  to  the  Ainu  under  the 
name  of  "  Seta  (dog)  koroki  (Nardosmia)."  Both  the  Ainu  and 
the  Japanese  prefixes,  "  seta  "  and  "  uma,"  when  applied  to  plants, 
seem  to  have  much  the  same  sense  as  the  English  "  dog,"  in  dog- 
wood, dogbane,  etc.,  and  the  "  horse  "  in  horse-radish,  horse-chest- 
nut, horse-mint,  etc.  The  Ainu  use  it  as  food  as  well  as  medicine. 
They  boil  the  tender  shoots  with  beans,  and  the  roots  are  put  into 
soup.  For  medicinal  uses  the  young  leaves  are  softened  by  rolling 
them  between  the  palms,  and  applied  to  skin  eruptions.    The  Jap- 
