Its Anglo-Saxon name
was "Fox's clote."

Boys throw them into the air at dusk to catch bats, which dart at
the Bur in mistake for a moth or fly; [163] then becoming
entangled with the thorny spines they fall helplessly to the ground.
Of the botanical names, _Arctium_ derived from _arktos_, a bear, in
allusion to the roughness of the burs; and _Lappa_ is from
_labein_, to seize. Other appellations of the herb are Clot-bur
(from sticking to clouts, or clothes), Clithe, Hurbur, and Hardock.
The leaves when applied externally are highly resolvent for
tumours, bruises, and gouty swellings. In the _Philadelphia
Recorder_ for January, 1893, a striking case is given of a fallen
womb cured after twenty years' duration by a decoction of
Burdock roots. The liquid extract acts as an admirable remedy in
some forms (strumous) of longstanding indigestion. The roots
contain starch; and the ashes of the plant burnt when green yield
carbonate of potash abundantly, with nitre, and inulin.

The Yellow Curled Dock (_Rumex crispus_), so called because its
leaves are crisped at their edges, grows freely in our roadside
ditches, and waste places, as a common plant; and a medicinal
tincture which is very useful (H.) is made from it before it flowers.
This is of particular service for giving relief to an irritable
tickling cough of the upper air-tubes, and the throat, when these
passages are rough and sore, and sensitive to the cold atmosphere,
with a dry cough occurring in paroxysms. It is likewise excellent for
dispelling any obstinate itching of the skin, in which respect it was
singularly beneficial against the contagious army-itch which
prevailed during the last American war. It acts like Sarsaparilla
chiefly, for curing scrofulous skin affections and glandular
swellings. To be applied externally an ointment may be made by
boiling the root in vinegar until the fibre is softened, and by then
mixing the pulp with lard (to which some sulphur is [164] added at
times). In all such cases of a scrofulous sort from five to ten drops
of the tincture should be given two or three times a day with a
spoonful of cold water.

Rumicin is the active principle of the Yellow Curled Dock; and
from the root, containing chrysarobin, a dried extract is prepared
officinally, of which from one to four grains may be given for a
dose in a pill. This is useful for relieving a congested liver, as
well as for scrofulous skin diseases.

"Huds," or the great Wate