Blood root

Blood Root used in Black Salve Compounds

Bloodroot - {Sanguinaria Canadensis L}

Bloodroot is the only species of the genus Sanguinaria. While sometimes locally abundant, this plant is generally somewhat rare. It is known from areas that have been little disturbed, usually on hillsides and lower mountains. A blood-red juice can be extracted from the reddish orange root - actually a rhizome. Hence the name Bloodroot.

Classification:
Sanguinaria Canadensis L.
Kingdom Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass Magnoliidae
Order Papaverales
Family Papaveraceae – Poppy family
Genus Sanguinaria L. – Bloodroot

Known Iso-quinoline benzophenanthridine alkaloids contained in the root:
at 18,000 - 70,000 ppm
Alpha-Allocryptopine
Berberine
Beta-Allocryptopine
Chelilutine
Chelirubine
Chelerythrine
Coptisine
Dihydro-Sanguinarine
Endotoxin
Oxy-Sanguinarine
Protopine
Sanguidariudine
Sanguidimerine
Sanguilutine
Sanguinarine

Broken and dried bloodroot has a red center. When fresh, the root will "bleed" a saturated but runny red liquid.

Dried Bloodroot. When clean and completely dry, like this, the root can be powdered and added to Black Salve medicines.

Bloodroot, in the mountains, blooms in June.
Bloodroot is native to the moist woodlands of Eastern U.S. and Canada. Colonies are established in Colorado, China, India, and Australia.

Bloodroot possesses remarkable attributes. The active chemical in bloodroot is 13methyl [1,3] benzodioxolo [5,6-c]-1,3-dioxolo [4,5-i] phenanthridinium.

Some of the more important alkaloids present in bloodroot include Sanguinarine, chelerythrine, and protopine have been isolated from roots and rhizomes of Sanguinaria canadensis. Berberine is also an important alkaloid present in bloodroot.

The sap of the plant is bright-red and is especially abundant with the alkaloid sanguinarine, which is derived from root. Bloodroot is known for its anti-cancer/anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial properties. It's also highly anti-oxidant, and an expectorant.

Alkaloids in combination in bloodroot provide broad in-vitro activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, and some protozoa.

Bloodroot possesses the following strong-nature properties:

1. Bloodroot rapidly stops cancer cell growth.

2. Bloodroot stops the promotion of human epidermoid carcinoma cells, i.e., squamous cell. (The squamous cell is an invasive malignant tumor, derived from epithelial tissue, that tends to metastasize to other areas of the body).

3. Bloodroot promotes the natural self-destruction (apoptosis) of cancer cells.

4. Bloodroot will not promote apoptosis to healthy tissue. unless in concentrations above -10 M (10-6 per unit).

5) Other Herbal Properties: expectorant, antispasmodic, emetic, cathartic, nervine, escharotic, stimulant, alterative, antibiotic, diuretic, febrifuge, and sedative.

A short-term toxicity study of sanguinarine showed an acute LD50 of 1658mg/kg in rats. The acute dermal LD50 was >200mg/kg.

The following is from: Sanguinarine & hypothalamic Glaucoma.

Sohrab A.E Hakim1, D Phil2 1 From the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, United Kingdom Sanguinarine is a benzphenanthridine alkaloid belonging to the iso-quinoline group.

http://www.ijo.in

Over 114 iso-quinoline alkaloids are known and some of them like morphine, codeine and papaverine are amongst the most active and useful of drugs. Iso-quinoline alkaloids are usually found in plants belonging to two large botanical families, the poppies and fumarias, but they also occur sporadically in twelve other plant families (Manske, 1954).

Sanguinarine was hitherto regarded as a rare and obscure alkaloid first isolated over 140 years ago from Sanguinaria canadensis L., the 'blood-root' used by the North American Indians to paint themselves scarlet. During the last one and a half centuries, the "epoch of alkaloid detection", chemists found sanguinarine in only eight other poppy-fumaria plants. Working at the National Institute for Medical Research, London, under the guidance of Sir Robert Robinson and Dr. James Walker, we found that sanguinarine was present and abundant in most morphological parts of nearly fifty species of poppy-fumaria weeds.

Sanguinarine is more or less invariably present in the leaves and stems, often in the roots, capsules and seeds, and was the commonest fluorescent alkaloid seen in these species. It seems to have been missed for so many years because of its unusual solubility and absence of adequate tests. The details of our methods of extraction, detection, identification and results have been published elsewhere. (Hakim et al., 1961a).

An example of how sanguinarine had hitherto escaped chemical detection is found in the 'opium' poppy Papaver somniferum L. No plant has been more thoroughly investigated in the annals of chemistry, and yet sanguinarine was missed in this plant. We found it in its roots, stems and leaves. The young plants are used as edible herbs in the middle East and like the 'fumitory' herb, deliberately fed to cattle.

The purpose of this elaboration into the phyto-chemistry of sanguinarine. A large number of such plants grow as prolific weeds in most parts of the world (Fedde, 1909; Hutchinson, 1921), are grazed upon by cattle, who absorb their toxic alkaloids, store them in their liver and secrete them in their milk.

The 'fumitory' herb has been widely used as a medicine, and must have contributed an insidious source of sanguinarine during its recorded history covering over 2,000 years! This herb was known as 'Kaonos' in ancient Greek classical medicine and prescribed by Dioscorides and Pliny. Under its Arabic name of 'Shahtiraj', it was used by Ibn Seranion, Ibnu'l-Baytar, Ibn 'Awwam, 'Abd ar-Razzaq, Rabi Maimonides and others and its use continued throughout the Middle East unto the present day. As 'Shahterah, it was well-known to the physicians of Persia, Ar-Razi, 'Ali ibnu'l 'Abbas al-Ma usi, Abu 'Ali Sina and Isma'il Jurjani and its use was introduced into the Mughal. school of Yunani medicine in lnaia through works like the Makhzanel-Adwia. The herb is well known in North India as 'Sathra' (often confused with 'Pitpapda'), and is commonly used as a Yunani and even as an Ayurvedic decoction for fevers, skin and kidney diseases, blood-purification etc. The National Formulary (1960), the Dispensatory of the United States of America (1960) and the British Pharmaceutical Codex (1949) sponsor the use of Sanguinaria canadensis L., the 'blood-root' overflowing with the scarlet alkaloid sanguinarine.

More importantly for the plants that manufacture these alkaloids, they are for the purpose of prevention of root-rot and insect defense. As these plants are long-lived, in often poor soils that are sometimes frozen and drought stricken, they've developed a self-preservation system that thwarts parasites, fungus and other rot causes.

Interactions with pharmaceuticals: none known. If ingested, bloodroot may result in a positive urine screen for opiates as it contains non-pharmacological concentrations of opiate alkaloids.

Interactions with other herbs: Bloodroot should not be given with other herbs that cause gastric irritation, e.g., angelica, coffee, cola, black and red pepper, cinnamon, calamus, dandelion root, devil’s claw root, gentian, goldenseal, guarana seeds, horseradish, ironweed, mat, mustard, tobacco, quassia, snakeroot, wormwood, and yarrow.

From the Crucible Catalog Herbal Guide. http://www.crucible.org/herbal_guide.htm

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria) is a powerful remedy affecting the head, liver, chest, deltoid, and mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. It also help a wide variety of puzzling symptoms, including burning pains, influenza coughs, sudden stoppage of catarrh of respiratory tract followed by diarrhea, vasomotor disturbances, ebullitions, sickness and fainting from odor of flowers, redness and burning of cheeks, menstrual sickness headache, pain that ascends from occiput bone to over right eye, headaches from going without food, distension of the veins and temples, rheumatism of the right shoulder, burning of palms and soles, cough of gastric origin, pneumonia, tough sputum that is rust-colored and almost impossible to raise, spasmodic cough after influenza and after whooping cough, severe dyspnea and constriction of chest, tuberculosis, nasal polyps, most general headaches. It is also worn for protection. Planets: Saturn, Mars. [Earth]

Traditional Black Salve/ Compound A - Mild Traditional Black Salve/ Compound A - Strong Yellow Powder/ Compound B - Small Yellow Powder/ Compound B - Large Yellow Salve/ Compound BV - Small Yellow Salve/ Compound BV - Large Healing Salve/ Compound C - Large Red Salve/ Compound D - Medium Strength Brown Powder/ Compound L - Large

Black Salve Indonesia

Information about
The Bloodroot in Black Salve Medicine

Black Salve Indonesia

Information about The Bloodroot in Black Salve Medicine

Information about
The Bloodroot in Black Salve Medicine