Bistort

Statema, B. C. P.

Plant

Bistort

Bistorta

Known today as: Bistorta officinalis, snakeweed.
Kind: Plant, in 1 older authority
Constituents: tannins, gallic acid, ellagic acid
Earliest authority here: Culpeper (1616–1654)
In other databases: Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 9: Anointings

Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Bistort: what did Canale use it for?

Root in the oil (ch. 9).

Bistort: what does modern science say?

Rich in tannins, and long used for diarrhea and bleeding.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

tannins15–20 per cent of the root, condensed and hydrolysable
gallic acid ChEMBL
ellagic acid ChEMBL

Mechanism

One of the most tannin-rich of the astringent roots: it tightens the gut lining and stops bleeding by protein precipitation, which is the whole of its action.

Toxic dose

Safe in the short term; tannin loads of this size irritate the stomach and bind iron if taken for weeks.

Standing

No EMA monograph; in the German tradition for diarrhoea and mouth inflammation.

Wichtl, M. (2004). Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd ed., “Bistortae rhizoma.” Book, seen in reviews

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

Bistort: what lore surrounds it?

Its young leaves are the essential ingredient of dock pudding, or Easter-ledge pudding, a Lenten dish of the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, cooked with oatmeal, nettles, and onion and traditionally fried with bacon. It survives in the World Dock Pudding Championship, held at Mytholmroyd every year since 1971.

Bistort: what did the older authorities say?

Culpeper: Puts it under Saturn, cold and dry, and says both leaves and roots “have a powerful faculty to resist all poison”: the root in powder, taken in drink, expels the venom of the plague, smallpox, and measles by sweating; the decoction in wine stays all inward bleeding and fluxes, and “hinders abortion or miscarriage in child-bearing.”

Sources

[49] Georgiev, Y. N., Ognyanov, M. H., & Denev, P. N. (2023). Phytochemical composition and therapeutic potential of Bistorta major Gray: a review. In S. Sotirov et al. (eds.), Recent Contributions to Bioinformatics and Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 658: 167–191. Cham: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-31069-0_17 Verified against its record · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-31069-0_17

“Dock pudding” (reference article). Book, not indexed
Culpeper, N. (1653). The Complete Herbal, “Bistort, Or Snakeweed.” Project Gutenberg #49513. Primary text

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full

Sources

4 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 primary text, 1 book, seen in reviews, 1 book, not indexed.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026

Chicago: “Bistort.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bistort.
MLA: “Bistort.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bistort. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Bistort. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bistort

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