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Burnet

Scientific Names

• Sanguisorba minor L.
• Sanguisorba officinalis L.
• Rosaceae
• Rose family

Common Names

Bipulo
Lady-smocks
Pimpinella
Salad burnet
Sanguisorbia
Solbegrella
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Parts Usually Used

Leaves, root
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Salad burnet is a bushy, perennial plant produces nearly evergreen, fernlike foliage; 1-2 feet tall, the leaves compound, leaflets 7-15, toothed. Tiny purplish red (almost crimson) flowers, in oval or thickly rounded heads; blooms May to October.
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Where Found

Maine to Minnesota, escaped elsewhere, mostly cultivated in herb gardens.

The wild variety grows in England, especially in Huntingdon, Northamptonshire and near London. Dislikes high ground, preferring the moister soil of low, sheltered valleys.
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Medicinal Properties

Astringent, styptic, febrifuge, hemostatic, alterative
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Biochemical Information

Tannins, the leaves contain a sapanoside and flavones
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Legends, Myths and Stories

Salad burnet has a nutty flavor that hints of cucumber, and is similar to borage in its taste and uses. Add to salads, cold drinks, soups, cream cheese, vinegar, or use as a garnish. Must use fresh leaves. Makes a tea from fresh or dried leaves, served hot or cold; once was used to flavor wine. Said to be taken as protection of the Plague and other contagious diseases in Pliny’s day. The botanical name (Latin sanguis = blood) refers to its ability to staunch bleeding of wounds. Another species of burnet actually goes by the name of salad burnet (Potaerium sanguisorba).
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Uses

Leaf tea used for fevers and as a styptic. American soldiers drank tea before battles in the Revolutionary War to prevent bleeding if they were wounded. Root tea stops menstrual bleeding, bleeding from piles, dysentery; externally, for sores, swelling, canker sores, ulcers, moist skin ailments, wounds, burns. Powdered root used for 2nd and 3rd degree burns.
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Formulas or Dosages

Pound the leaves into pulp and spread on a clean piece of bandage or lint. Apply as a poultice.
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Warning

Contains tannins, contraindicated for burns in Western medicine.
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Bibliography

The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

Country Home Book of Herbs, Meredith Books, Editorial Dept. RW240, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, IA 50309-3023, copyright 1994

Culpeper's Complete Herbal & English Physician, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973

The Magic of Herbs, by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print)

Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023, 1984

The Rodale Herb Book, edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974

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