Health and Healing

Trees that Heal

*Note: some of these trees may be toxic to birds
unless so noted.

Safe:Weeping (White) Willow - aspirin (inner bark). Bark extracts used as a sore throat gargle; for heartburn; stomach problems and food poisoning. Pussy Willow has similar uses - root bark used for leukemia and restores bone marrow function after chemo.

Balsam Fir - Balm of Gilead - great for a rheumatic salve

Common Alder - a poultice of the leaves reduces unflammation and a tea
from the leaves is a wonderful foot soak. Various parts - leaves, twigs, bark
produce many dyes

Safe: Silver Birch - tea from leaves is used for rheumatism, dissolving renal
stones and make green and yellow dyes. Bark and bud oil is used in
medicated soap.

Chestnut - leaves used as a witch hazel substitute and infused to treat
convulsive coughs. Shampoo made from the leaves and nut skins gives
golden highlights to the hair. Nut meal whitens linens and forms starch.

Fringe tree - dried root bark used to treat liver & gallbladder
diseases, stimulates appetite and has laxative effect.

Safe if untreated: Eucalyptus - many medicinal uses. 

Beech - nuts used as a coffee substitute. Oil pressed from nuts used as
lamp oil & making soap. Distilled branches made into medicinal creosote
and their ash applied as blonde hair dye. Beech tar treats skin dis-eases.

Ginko Biloba - leaves and seeds used in Chineses medicine for lung
problems. Extract of yellow autumn leaves used to promote blood vessel
strength and reduce free radical damage. Said to improve brain
efficiency.

English Walnut - reduces cholesterol. In China the nuts treat wheezing,
back & leg pain and constipation. Crushed leaves treat skin eruptions
and repel insects. Bark, leaves & husks yield a brown dye.

Juniper - Native Americans boiled the berries to treat colds and burned
the needles as incense. 

Sweet Bay - leaves are 'bay leaves' for cooking. Extract from the bark
is a laxative & diuretic, treats jaundice & colic. Resin chewed for sore
throats.

Sweet Gum - inner bark resin used to make storax - a fixative for
scents. Bark burned as incense. Resin also used in inhalants for bronchial
infections, to treat skin dis-eases and parasites. Resin....allowed to
slightly harden used as a chewing gum by Native Americans ( 

Magnolia - bark - muscle relaxant and used to treat stomach spasms,
peptic ulcers, diarrhea, vomiting, coughs and asthma.

Ironwood - stamens used for fever; buds for dysentery and as an
astringent; flowers for coughs. Seeds treat eczema & rheumatism and provide oil for lamps. Unripe fruits and the astringent bark, given with ginger, promote
perspiration. Leaves and flowers are used as parts in remedies for snake
bite and scorpion stings.

White Mulberry - Leaves & root bark are diuretic and expectorant and
lower BP. Extracts decrease blood sugar and inhibit tumors in tests. Ripe
fruits are yummy and juice made from them is great for sore throats - both
White & Black Mulberry.

Safe: Poplar - .resin used for its antiseptic, expectorant, stimulant,
fever-reducing, and painkilling properties - mostly in cough mixtures
and ointments for cuts, skin dis-eases and rheumatism. Bark used for
rheumatism and urinary complaints.

Safe: Elderberry - ripe berries are full of vit. C and are used to flavor &
color foods and made into wine. Elderflower water for eye and skin lotions.
Flowers treat colds, sore throats, hay fever and arthritis and act as a
mild laxative. Leaves are applied to bruises and sprains; bark is given
for epilepsy; roots treat lymphatic and kidney conditions. A leaf brew is
also used as an insecticide.

Sassafras - ground leaves, called "powder" are used to thicken
Cajun soups and make gumbo. Root bark oil contains saffrole, used to
flavor root beer before banned by FDA, toothpaste and tobacco. Fruit oil used
in perfumes. Leaf, twig, bark and root were tonic blood purifiers and
perhaps the first Native American herb to be exported to Europe.

Safe: Moutain Ash - berries rich in vit. C - but seeds must be removed.
Berries also made into skin masks and used as a sore throat gargle.

Yew - being tested as a remedy for cancer. Smoldering wet leaves create
an insecticidal smoke that repels gnats & mosquitoes. A cooled leaf
decoction can be applied to soothe nervous, twitching animals, as it has a mild
relaxant effect. Branches used by Native Americans for making bows &
arrows.

Arbor Vitae - (Thuja) - foliage used for bronchial, urinary and vaginal
infections; inner bark for delayed menstruation; twigs for rheumatism.
Antiviral & antifungal twig tincture used for warts and skin infections.

Linden - brew from flowers is used as a tea to treat digestive issues,
insomnia, nervous tension and overwrought children. Induces sweating
which reduces colds, headaches and flu, and may lower BP, and helps with
arteriosclerosis. Linden water is used in bath preps to soothe rheumatic
aches. Inner bark treats kidney stones, gout and coronary dis-ease.

English Elm - leaves used in hemorrhoid ointments and in decoctions for
red, inflamed skin.

Chaste Tree - Vitex agnus. Hormonal balance in women. Root, leaves and
fruits used to prevent malaria, treat wheezing, coughs, colds and
bacterial dysentery. In Napal, the leaves are smoked for headaches, the leaf juice
is given for rheumatic joints, the flower buds for pneumonia, the dried
fruits as a dewormer, the roots as an expectorant and tonic.

Northern Prickly Ash (Toothache Tree) - inner bark chewed by Native
Americans for toothache pain. Berry tea for sore throats. Bark & berries
are stimulants to the circulatory, digestive and lymphatic systems.
Prescribed for rheumatism & skin dis-eases, nervous headaches, varicose
veins and congestion. Research indicates that this tree and the Southern
version may have anticancer properties.