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Herb library · Herb · Sanguinaria canadensis

Bloodroot

A spring wildflower of eastern North American woods whose root bleeds red juice. It was long used as a dye and a medicine; today it is best known as the corrosive ingredient in "black salve," which FDA links to tissue destruction.

Serious warning

FDA lists black salve (products containing bloodroot, sanguinarine, or zinc chloride) as a potential signal of a serious risk of soft tissue necrosis, and published case reports describe permanent scarring, disfigurement and cancer left in place. Do not put bloodroot or black salve on your skin.

Traditional use

Native to the woodlands of eastern North America. Among the Chippewa (Ojibwe), Frances Densmore recorded the root as a red, orange and yellow dye for porcupine quills, yarn and wooden implements; among the Omaha and Ponca, Melvin Gilmore recorded the root boiled with materials to dye them red. In the 1900s it was added to toothpastes and mouthwashes. Today it is sold mainly in "black salve" and "drawing salve" products put on the skin, including for skin growths and cancer.

What studies show

  • Insufficient

    Skin cancer and skin growths (black salve): reviews in PubMed find no objective evidence that black salve works against skin cancer, and describe case reports of excessive scarring, deformity and cancers that were not removed. It damages healthy tissue as well as abnormal tissue.

  • Limited

    Dental plaque and gum inflammation (toothpaste and mouthwash): a 2012 review found that bloodroot toothpaste or mouthwash used alone showed no clear effect on plaque or gingivitis; used together they seemed better than placebo in some studies, with conflicting later results. These products have since left the market.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • ConditionNever use black salve on a mole, growth or skin cancer. A case-control study linked a bloodroot toothpaste and mouthwash (Viadent) to leukoplakia, white patches in the mouth that can be precancerous; stopping the products did not always make them go away.
  • NoteBlack salve is sold under many names, among them drawing salve and red salve. It can destroy healthy skin and leave deep wounds and scars.
  • PregnancyThe sources read here give no safety information for pregnancy or breastfeeding. Do not use it.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“Wooden implements were colored by rubbing them with the fresh root of the blood-root, producing an orange shade.”
Frances Densmore, Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians (1928), p. 369. See the page of Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians, p. 369 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians, p. 369

Sources

  1. August 5, 2022 | New Safety Information or Potential Signals of Serious Risks Identified by the FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) (opens in a new tab) · FDA · read September 25, 2026
  2. A review of topical corrosive black salve (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. A Review of Black Salve: Cancer Specificity, Cure, and Cosmesis (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  4. A case of compound X (black salve) self-treated melanoma in situ leading to hospitalization and extensive tissue damage (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  5. Sanguinaria-related leukoplakia: epidemiologic and clinicopathologic features of a recently described entity (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  6. Rise and fall of oral health products with Canadian bloodroot extract (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.