Commonly called greater burdock, edible burdock, lappa or beggar’s buttons, it is a biennial plant cultivated in gardens for its root used as a vegetable.

Cosmetic use

An oil extract of the roots is used for scalp conditions (dandruff and hair loss). It improves hair strength, recovering its vitality and shine. Modern studies have shown that burdock root oil extract is rich in phytosterols and essential fatty acids required for promotion of hair growth. Classed as a skin conditioning agent, it is included in skin care cosmetics for its anti-inflammatory property.

Seeds contain arctigenin which has shown potent in vitro antiviral activities against influenza.

Acorus calamus (Araceae)

Commonly known as Sweet Flag or calamus, or Vaz it is a tall perennial wetland monocot. A reputed Ayurvedic medicinal herb, it grows throughout India in marshy places. Indigenous to India, A.calamus is now found across Europe, southern Russia, northern Asia Minor, southern Siberia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Australia, as well as southern Canada and the northern United States.

The root and its essential oil are used for their sedative, digestive, expectorant and stimulant properties and considered efficacious in facilitating speech development functions in childhood in native medicine.

Cosmetic use

Its sweet aroma makes the essential oil of the roots of acorus a valued commodity in the fragrance industry. Classified as a skin conditioning agent, the oil and the root extract are used as a fragrant inclusion in hair and skin care products.

The rhizomes contain calamediol, tanning substances and vitamin C. Two new selinane-type sesquiterpenes, acolamone and isoacilamone, have been isolated. Other constituents reported are asarone, asarone in oil, calamenol, calamene, calamenone, eugenol and methyl eugenol. The leaves contain also essential oil, tanning substances and vitamin C. The sweet flag oil contains two new sesquiterpenic ketones named as calamusenone and a new tropone. The essential oil present in a concentration of 2% to 4% in the rhizome contains a number of sesquiterpenes and asarone, a compound related to myristicin.