Chemical Constituents of Burdock

Root/Leaves - from (Burdock.1)
glycosides (arctiopicrin)
flavonoids (arctin - a known smooth muscle relaxant)
tannins
volatile oil including sesquiterpene lactones
polyacetylenes (have antibiotic effect)
resin
mucilage
inulin (up to 45%)
alkaloids
essential oil
phytosterols
caffeic acid derivatives

Seeds - from ((1) Burdock)
essential fatty acids
vitamins A and B2

Burdock chemical constituents consist of: inulin, mucilage, sugar, a bitter, crystalline glucoside - Lappin - a little resin, fixed and volatile oils, and some tannic acid. The roots contain starch, and the ashes of the plant, burnt when green, yield carbonate of potash abundantly and also some nitre. (Grieve, 144) Peirce also notes that chemicals in the root, called polyacetylenes, fight disease-causing bacteria and fungi. However, a team of investigators found that once the root is dried to be sold commercially, only trace amounts of such infection-fighting chemicals remain. (123) This would lead one to believe that using the fresh root, and leaves or seeds, would have more disease fighting potential than that of the dried. Dr. Christopher noted in his lecture series that he once attended a man who was very ill that they didn’t have time to harvest the root and allow it to dry. So the man was instructed to prepare an infusion of fresh Burdock root, and drink at least two or three cups a day, thus helping the man to heal from his ailment.

King’s American Dispensatory, written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D., in 1898 gave a more specific breakdown of Burdock’s known chemical composition at the time. They write, “The root was quantitatively analyzed by G. A. Weckler (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 393) who found fixed oil (0.4 per cent), mucilage, sugar, altered tannin (phlobaphene, 0.075 per cent), inulin, resin, ash (3.67 per cent), ect. The aqueous solution of the alcoholic extract gave indications of a glucoside. The seeds were analyzed by Prof. Trimble and Mr. F. D. McFarland (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1885, p. 127, and 1888, p. 79). Moisture was 7.3 percent, and ash 5.34 per cent. Petroleum spirit abstracted 15.4 per cent of a bland, fixed oil, dyring upon exposure in thin layers to the air. It has a specific gravity of 0.930, and is soluble in ether, chloroform, benzol, and hot, absolute alcohol. A crystalline, bitter substance was also obtained by extracting the drug first with petroleum spirit, then with alcohol, pouring the concentrated alcoholic solution into water, whereby resin is separated. The aqueous solution contains the bitter principle, which proved to be a glucosid devoid of alkaloidal reaction. The name lappin is applied to it. Upon hydrolysis with very dilute acid, it is decomposed into sugar and alcohol-soluble resin”. (Felter) In another study of the plants chemical compounds the following was published; “Root: up to 50% inulin, polyacetylenes, volatile acids (acetic, proprionic, butyric, isovaleric), non-hydroxyl acids (lauric, myristic, stearic, plmitic), tannin, polyphenolic acids. Seeds: 15-30% fixed oils, a bitter glycoside (arctiin), chlorogenic acid and vitamins A and B2. Leaves: contain flavonoids and antibacterial substances, arctiol, fukinone, and taraxasterol.” (Burdock.2)