AYURVEDIC PRACTITIONER
| Blood Root, ©2008 Todd Caldecott |
Botanical Name: Sanguinaria canadensis, Papaveraceae Common names: Blood root, Puccoon, Red Puccoon, Indian Paint, Redroot, Pauson, Tetterwort, Red Turmeric. Plant description: Blood root is a herbaceous perennial arising from a creeping rhizome, reaching a height of up to 25 cm. The rhizome emits an acrid bright orange-colored juice when cut or bruised. The leaves are basal, up to 20 cm wide, usually with only one open leaf, with five to nine lobes, becoming progressively larger as the plant matures through the season. The flower is solitary, scentless, with 8-16 white petals, sometimes with a purplish or rosy tint. The stamens are short with oblong yellow anthers, ovary oblong and compressed, style absent, the stigma two-lobed with a yellow center. The flower gives way to an elongated two-valved capsule with numerous, dark red seeds. Habitat, ecology and distribution: Blood root is native to North America, found east of the Rocky Mountains in open woods and cleared areas, preferring a rich loamy or clay soil, usually away from water. It can be locally abundant but for the most part is quite rare. Although cultivated sources exist overharvesting is common and wild Bloodroot stands are currently designated as "at risk" by United Plant Savers (http://www.unitedplantsavers.org). Part used: Rhizome, root; best harvested in autumn. History: The first mention of Bloodroot was made by Jaques Cornuti in his Canadensium Plantarum Historia (1635), which placed it in the genus Chelidonium (Papaveraceae). The genus name Sanguinaria was first applied by the French botanist Pierre Morin in 1651, derived from the Latin term sanguis meaning 'blood,' a name given because the plant exudes a blood-like sap when bruised or cut. Blood root was well known to the First Nations who used it as a dyeing agent and body paint, as well as an alterative, respiratory and digestive remedy. It attracted the attention of the Europeans early on when local First Nations groups presented a young woman as a bedmate to a colonist in Jamestown, wearing nothing except a coat of Bloodroot paste. According to Felter and Lloyd Bloodroot was first mentioned as a medicine in Schoepf's Materia Medica Americana, a Latin work published in Germany in 1787, used in small doses as an emetic and in the treatment of gonorrhea (1893). Constituents: Bloodroot is noted for its isoquinoline alkaloids (up to 70,000 ppm), which include sanguinarine (>85%), sanguidaridine, sanguidimerine, sanguirubine, sanguilutine, dihydrosanguilutine, oxysanguinaridine, oxysanguinarine, berberine, coptisine, protopine, chelerythrine, pseudochelerythrine, chelilutine, alpha and beta allocryptopine, beta homochelidonine, chelirubine and porphyroxin. Other constituents that have been identified included malic acid, a resin and starch (Duke 2003). Medical Research: The vast majority of research on Sanguinaria concerns a proprietary toothpaste and mouthrinse marketed under the name Viadent, that at one time contained sanguinarine and zinc chloride. In 2001 Allen et al reported an association between the use of Viadent toothpaste and/or mouthwash and the development of potentially preneoplastic leukoplakia oral mucosal lesions, and since this time the manufacturers of Viadent removed these constituents from the products. Toxicity: Reproductive and developmental toxicology studies were conducted with orally administered Sanguinaria extract in rats and rabbits. Researchers concluded that the oral intake of Sanguinaria extract has no selective effect on fertility, reproduction or fetal and neonatal development in rats or rabbits (Keller and Meyer et al 1989). The acute oral LD50 in rats for sanguinarine was calculated to be 1658 mg/kg. No toxic effects were observed in rats fed up to 150 ppm sanguinarine in the diet for 14 days and in rats treated by gavage with up to 0.6 mg/kg body weight for 30 days. The acute dermal LD50 in rabbits was found to be greater than 200 mg/kg (Becci et al 1987). Recent concern about the association of Sanguinaria and oral leukoplakia is somewhat suspect, considering that all the studies that looked at the potential association of Bloodroot and leukoplakia concerned the usage of a Sanguinaria and zinc chloride formulation (Viadent). The 1968 edition of the Merck Index however describes zinc chloride (butter of zinc) as a caustic, with moderately irritating effects on the skin and mucus membranes. Nonetheless, Bloodroot does have a history of usage as an escharotic and should be used in smaller doses and under professional supervision. Herbal action: alterative, antitumor, antimicrobial, expectorant, cholalgogue, emmenagogue Indications: atonic dyspepsia, chronic hepatitis, coughs, laryngitis, pharyngitis, chronic catarrh, bronchitis, asthma, hayfever, nasal polyps, male and female reproductive deficiency, skin cancer Contraindications and cautions: Large doses promote nausea and emesis, vertigo, gastritis, cardiac excitiation soon followed by depression and irregularity, pupil dilation and paralysis of the spinal nerves (Felter and Lloyd 1893). Despite no indication of any kind of toxic effects in pregnant experimental animals, tradition states that Bloodroot is strictly avoided in pregnancy. Medicinal uses: Based on the doctrine of signatures, and inferred from its name, Bloodroot is particularly suited to problems with the blood, as is one the most important alteratives in the materia medica, indicated in particular by states of irritation and inflammation, with signs of redness and heat, characterized by bleeding and acrid mucosal discharges. As a fresh plant remedy, Cook states that Bloodroot is rather acrid and harsh, but in dried form acts as a "slow relaxant and stimulant, influencing the mucous membranes, gall-ducts, and secreting organs in general" (1869). Bloodroot has long been considered to be an important remedy for the lungs, stated to be somewhat similar to Lobelia in effect, with a similar acrid sensations noticed upon ingestion. It was used as a stimulating expectorant, more often in atonic conditions to normalize bronchial secretions, but is used equally in states of irritation and inflammation. It is especially indicated in irritation and inflammation of the throat and larynx, and in irritative, tickling coughs, bronchitis and in chronic nasal catarrh. Similarly, it was used in allergic reactions such as hayfever to control the inflammatory response and alleviate itching or tickling sensations in the ear and Eustachian tubes. Combined with Bayberry and applied as an errhine or snuff, Bloodroot was traditionally used to treat chronic catarrhal afflictions as well as to destroy nasal polyps, but only if the secretions were free and abundant. In digestive disorders, Bloodroot is used in small doses as a cholagogue, used in congestive states and chronic hepatitis, especially with cold extremities and nauseating headaches. As a stomachic Bloodroot is similarly used in drop doses to enhance gastric secretion and improve the appetite, useful in atonic dyspepsia. In reproductive disorders Bloodroot is stated as being useful in seminal weakness, impotence, with seminal incontinence, and is was considered equally useful in gynecological disorders such as amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea, particularly when associated with debility and anxiety. Bloodroot is stated to be an efficacious remedy in a variety of skin diseases, applied topically as an antisyphilitic remedy in chancres, as well as ringworm, eczema and warts. Bloodroot was at one time extensively used in the treatment of cancer and ulcerous conditions as an escharotic paste. Herbalist Donald Yance states that alkaloids of Bloodroot possesses antitumor, antiviral and antimicrobial properties, and have been shown to be effective in Ehrlich carcinoma and sarcoma 37 (in mice) (1999, 129). Eli Jones mentions Bloodroot internally as a specific for cancer of rectum. Jones also used Bloodroot as an escharotic paste on occasion, along with internal therapies, in the treatment of skin cancer. In his text, Cancer: It's Causes, Symptoms and Treatment (1911), Jones offers several escharotic formulas, some of these pastes use containing Bloodroot in combination with zinc chloride. A typical escharotic paste can be prepared by mixing equal parts finely sieved Bloodroot powder, zinc chloride and some kind of paste, an ointment, or a little hypoallergenic flour (e.g. rice, arrowroot) mixed with water. The paste should be thoroughly mixed with a spatula. Adhesive strips should then be laid around the tumor to protect the healthy adjacent tissue, and the paste is spread on a piece of sterile cotton sheet and placed over the tumor. Over this adhesive strips are laid to keep the paste in place. The paste is retained for 24 hours, after which it is removed and then reapplied, after washing the tumor clean with warm water. Jones counsels that the treatment should be repeated until "Šthe patient tells you that the growth feels heavy, like a dead weight," adding further that the growth should feel hard when pressing down on it, "like the sole of your shoe." Yance states that this treatment should not exceed two applications, or it may cause scarring (1999, 173). Once the escharotic paste is discontinued, Jones recommends the application of a poultice comprised of equal parts of ground Slippery Elm, Flaxseed, Lobelia seed and Bayberry bark mixed smooth with warm water, applied onto a piece of clean cloth, and changed every two hours, cleaning the tumor with equal parts of distilled extract of Witch Hazel and warm water. After this Jones states that the growth should eventually break loose, on its own, after which he typically applied his "Yellow Healing salve," comprised of Burgundy pitch (Abies excelsa), White Pine (Pinus monticola) turpentine, beeswax, mutton tallow, and Olive oil to heal the tissues and draw out the remaining necrotic tissue. To this end any healing and drawing salve can be used. This salve is applied thrice daily on the wound until it has healed well. Pharmacy and dosage:
REFERENCESAllen CL, Loudon J, Mascarenhas A. 2001. Sanguinaria-related leukoplakia: epidemiologic and clinicopathologic features of a recently described entity. Gen Dent. 2001 Nov-Dec;49(6):608-14.
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