A large two-year herbaceous plant from the family of Compositae up to 180 cm in height, with a thick vertical root and straight, ribbed, in the upper part branched, cobweb-furry, dirty-purple thick stalk. The leaves are very large, up to 0.5 m long and almost the same width, cordate-ovate, with a grayish-fronted bottom, with long petioles. Plants of the first year of life have only a radical rosette of large petiolate leaves. In the second year, a stem appears. Blooms in July - August. It grows near shelter, roads, reservoirs, on vacant lots, weedy places, borders, margins of fields. The therapeutic use of burdock roots. Collect the roots of plants of the first year of life, which do not have a stem. Plants of the second year with stems are not used. Their root consumes nutritious, and with them, biologically active substances. The collection is carried out in September-October. The plants are excavated with shovels, shaken from the soil, cut off the above-ground part and thin roots, separated from the main root by thick lateral ones and washed. The washed roots are cleaned of cork. The thick ones are cut along and dried in the sun, in attics or other ventilated rooms. Dried roots break, but do not bend. In Japan and some other countries, burdock is considered a garden crop and it is cultivated. Young leaves are used to make salads and soups, and the roots of the first year are eaten raw, boiled, baked, roasted, put in soup instead of potatoes. In addition to proteins, fats and carbohydrates, the fresh burdock root contains vitamins (C, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9), as well as macro- and microelements (calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc). For the cultivation of burdock, fertile, humus-rich soil and complete sunlight are preferred. This plant is very responsive to the introduction of nitrogen fertilizers. The roots are excavated 3 to 4 months after sowing the seeds.
