Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Sanguinaria canadensis
Pronounced BLUD-root; Sanguinaria canadensis = sang-gwih-NAIR-ee-uh kan-uh-DEN-sis
Warm, dry, and intensely acrid: a stimulating expectorant and escharotic that fires up sluggish, boggy, torpid mucous membranes and drives out stuck catarrh, potent and narrow-margined, a low-dose remedy only.
Contraindicated. Bloodroot is a documented uterine stimulant and emmenagogue with a recorded Native American and Eclectic history of use as an abortifacient; its benzophenanthridine alkaloids (sanguinarine, chelerythrine) are cytotoxic and its protopine and chelerythrine fractions show uterine-stimulant activity. The AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook (2nd ed., 2013) classifies Sanguinaria canadensis as not for use during pregnancy, and Brinker lists it as contraindicated in pregnancy. Sources: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (Gardner & McGuffin, 2013); Brinker, Herbal Contraindications and Drug Interactions; Croaker et al. 2016 review (PMC5037693).
Avoid. No adequate safety data exist for lactation, and the rhizome carries cytotoxic quaternary benzophenanthridine alkaloids (sanguinarine, chelerythrine) whose transfer into milk is uncharacterized. Sources: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (insufficient data); NCCIH consumer guidance principle for herbs of unestablished lactation safety.
Avoid internal use in children. There is no established pediatric dose, the therapeutic-to-toxic margin is narrow, and the rhizome is emetic and cardioactive in overdose. Historical pediatric use in croup syrups is outdated and unsafe by modern standards. Sources: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed.; Croaker et al. 2016 review (PMC5037693).
Low-dose herb only: the margin between an effective and a toxic dose is narrow. Overdose causes intense burning in the throat and stomach, unquenchable thirst, nausea and repeated vomiting, vertigo, dimness of vision, faintness, and a slow or irregular pulse, because sanguinarine inhibits the Na+/K+-ATPase pump in the manner of digoxin. Never use bloodroot escharotic paste or black salve to self-treat a mole, wart, or suspected skin cancer: it destroys tissue, leaves permanent scarring and disfigurement, and can hide a cancer that keeps advancing beneath the scar. Avoid repeated oral or mucosal exposure: sanguinarine-containing dental products were linked to oral leukoplakia and withdrawn from the market. Not for long-term continuous use.
Contraindicated in pregnancy (documented uterine stimulant, emmenagogue, and historical abortifacient) and in preconception. Avoid in lactation and in children. Avoid internal use in cardiac disease and alongside cardiac-glycoside or antiarrhythmic drugs (Na+/K+-ATPase inhibition). Do not apply as an escharotic to skin lesions. Use cautiously, if at all, in glaucoma. Never exceed low, controlled doses.
At risk. Bloodroot is listed on the United Plant Savers 'At-Risk' list (overall at-risk score 47) and is Exploitably Vulnerable in New York and of Special Concern in Rhode Island. Wild stands are pressured by habitat loss, over-harvest for the botanical and dental trade, and disrupted ant-mediated seed dispersal. Use only cultivated or responsibly woods-grown root; do not buy wildcrafted material.
Not in canonical biblical texts. Sanguinaria canadensis is native to the woodlands of eastern North America and belongs to Native American tradition (Cherokee, Ojibwe, Iroquois, and others used the root for respiratory complaints, as a dye and paint, and as an emetic and abortifacient) before its adoption by the 19th-century Eclectic and Physiomedical physicians.
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