The book has yellowed and thick pages, it is placed on a lectern that dominates the center of the Library room. In front of us there is the restored work entitled Herbario Novo by Castore Durante, an Italian Renaissance physician, botanist and poet. With slow and respectful gestures, we leaf through the pages of the work written in 1602 and are amazed by the amount of plants that are described there, all with an image and description of the properties. One plant in particular captures our attention. In fact, Durante, referring to the burnet, writes that the water from the whole plant or the juice from the root heals wounds and burns, removes age spots from the skin and makes the face bright and fresh. These are the exact words of the physician. Over the centuries, the burnet has been studied by science that has verified its cosmetic properties. So let's see what the burnet can do for our skin and how we can use this plant to make it our precious beauty ally.
Burnet, cosmetic properties
The pimpinella sanguisorba comes in two varieties, the sanguisorba officinalis, called great burnet, and the sanguisorba minor, or salad burnet, with similar properties, let's see them. The leaves of this plant are characterized by healing, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, useful to treat wounds, burns, sunburns and sores (University of Udine, Department of Plant Biology - Sitarek et al, Int J Mol Sci, 2020). Not only that, the burnet is also a source of antioxidants, such as flavonoids and tannins that make it anti-aging and a powerful remedy in combating premature aging, dark spots but also cellular degeneration (Finimundy et al, Food Chem, 2020 - Karkanis et al, Food Funct, 2019).
Burnet, the remedy for face and hand blemishes
Bring a cup of water to a boil, remove from heat and add a tablespoon of dried burnet leaves. You can easily buy burnet plants, then collect their leaves and let them dry. Alternatively, it is also possible to find the already dried leaves of burnet. Leave to infuse for ten minutes, then filter and let it cool. Soak a cotton pad and apply to face and hands against dark spots.
