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FSlippery Elm Ulmus
rubra
Common
Names: Red Elm. Dohooshah. Moose Elm.
Indian Elm.
Description:
Perennial tree, native
to North America. Its name refers to the slippery, fragrant
inner bark. The Iroquois called it Do-Hoosh-Ah, meaning "it
slips." Slippery Elm eases digestion and works with the body
to draw out impurities and toxins.
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Range:
Eastern Canada, and Eastern and Central United States, Maine to
Florida, west to Texas and North Dakota.
Habitat:
Rich deep soils on the banks of streams and low rocky
hillsides.
Part
Used: Bark. This bark, is considered one of the
most valuable remedies in herbal practice, the abundant mucilage
it contains having wonderfully strengthening and healing
qualities. It is recommended that ten-year-old bark should
be used.
Harvesting:
The inner bark, which
is the part used medicinally, is collected in spring from the bole
and larger branches and dried. Since it is no longer of
value as timber, the tree is then left to die. However,
native peoples used and valued the whole of this tree. The
tree supplied material for the sides of winter houses and roofs
for the Meskwaki, and the inner bark was used by many peoples for
cordage. The Menomini gathered the bark, boiled it, and used
it for making fiber bags and storage baskets. The Dakota,
Omaha-Ponca, Winnebago and Pawnee used the inner bark fiber for
making ropes and cords.
Slippery elm bark was used to
treat sore throats by members of at least six American Indian
tribes, including the Iroquois and the Cherokee, even before the
arrival of the Europeans. It was also used to flavor buffalo
tallow and for making birdlime, which was used for trapping small
birds. It has been a folkloric treatment
for sore throat in the United States at least since the early
1800s when its use was popularized by the Thomsonian
herbalists. The fresh or dried inner bark
also makes a good survival food. It is a chew that keeps on
giving. It is said George Washington and his troops survived
for several days on Slippery Elm Gruel during the bitter winter at
Valley Forge!
Slippery Elm throat lozenges
are available today in many health food stores and
pharmacies. Slippery Elm power, when moistened, has a slimy
quality that is soothing to inflamed mucous membranes.
Herbalists use slippery elm to soothe inflammations of the mouth,
throat and intestines.
Slippery Elm was also used
extensively as an Indian medicine. The Iroquois scraped the
bark of the tree and used it in combination with other plants to
treat infected and swollen glands. The inner bark was made
into an eye wash for sore eyes. The Menomini used the inner
bark in a tea and it was taken as a physic. The inner bark
was used by the Menomini and Meskwaki in a poultice to heal sores
on the body. Meskwaki women drank a tea of the bark to make
childbirth easier. The tree also was used by the Ojibwe to
treat sore throats. The fresh inner bark was boiled and the
Dakota, Omaha-Ponca, and other tribes drank the resulting
decoction as a laxative. Indigenous peoples generously
taught some these uses to early non-Indian settlers.
Remedies:
You can simply chew on
slippery elm bark and swallow the juice of suck on the plain bark
powder to cure a raw throat, or try a gargle or some homemade
lozenges. Dried strips of the inner bark can also be placed in
a glass of cold water at bedside, and by morning this water will
have become a thick, white mucilage. This is an excellent
beverage for treating sore throat, laryngitis, bronchitis or
stomach or duodenal ulcer.
Gargle: Place 1
tablespoon of powdered slippery elm bark in a cup. Fill with
boiling water. Let steep for ten minutes. Stir, without
straining, and first gargle, then swallow 1/2 cup doses to soothe
a sore throat. Do this as often as desired.
Hot
Slippery Milk: Beat up an egg with a teaspoonful of
powdered bark, pouring boiling milk over it and sweetening
it. This makes an excellent drink in cases of irritation of
the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, and taken at
night will induce sleep.
"Cold
& Flu" Tea: Cut one or more ounces of
bark obliquely into pieces about the thickness of a match.
Add a pinch of Cayenne with a slice of lemon and sweeten, infusing
the whole in a pint of boiling water and letting it stand for 25
minutes. Take this frequently in small doses. For a
consumptive patient, about a pint a day is recommended. It is
considered one of the best remedies that can be given as it
combines both demulcent and stimulating properties. Being
mucilaginous, it rolls up the mucous material so troublesome to
the patient and passes it down through the intestines. This
"tea" is also recommended for typhoid fever. Drink
as much of this tea as desired, until your thirst has
abated. When you are no longer thirsty, take 2 large
tablespoons every hour.
Honey Lozenges: Mix
slippery elm powder with hot honey. Spread the past on a
marble slab or other nonstick surface coated with sugar or
cornstarch. With a rolling pin, roll the mixture flat to
about the thickness of a pancake. Sprinkle with sugar and
cornstarch. With a knife, cut into small, separate squares
or pinch off pieces and roll into 1/4-inch balls. Flatten the
balls into round lozenges. All lozenges to air-dry in a
well-ventilated area for twelve hours then store in
refrigerator. Sucking on the lozenges will help heal sore
throats.
Slippery
Elm Gruel : Place 1 tablespoon of inner bark powder
in a small bowl. Slowly stir in 1/2 cup of boiling water,
making a paste. Add enough water to make the paste into a
thick gruel, about the consistency of Cream of Wheat. It
can, if desired, be flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg or lemon rind.
Slippery
Elm Poultice: Considered one of the best possible
poultices for wounds, boils, ulcers, burns and all inflamed
surfaces. It is soothing, healing and reduces pain and
inflammation. Mix Slippery Elm bark powder with hot water to
form a paste. Spread the paste, when cooled, smoothly on a
sterile cotton cloth and apply to affected parts. This
poultice works wonderfully for suppurations, abscesses, wounds of
all kinds, congestion, eruptions, swollen glands, etc. In simple
inflammation, it may be applied directly over the part affected;
to abscesses and old wounds, it should be placed between cloths.
If applied to parts of the body where there is hair, the face of
the poultice should be smeared with olive oil before applying.
In old gangrenous wounds, an excellent antiseptic poultice is
prepared by mixing with warm water or an infusion of Wormwood,
equal parts of Slippery Elm powder and very fine charcoal and
applying immediately over the part.
Gangrene:
A very valuable poultice in cases where it is desirable to hasten
suppuration or arrest the tendency to gangrene is made by mixing
the Slippery Elm powder with brewer's yeast and new milk.
Bronchitis
Tonic: A valuable remedy for Bronchitis and all
diseases of the throat and lungs. Place one teaspoon
of Flax seed, one ounce of Slippery Elm bark, one ounce of
Thoroughwort and one stick of licorice into one quart of
water. Simmer slowly for 20 minutes. Strain and add 1 pint
of good vinegar and 1/2 pint of sugar. When this cools, place in a
bottle or other container. Dose: 1 tablespoonful two or
three times a day.
For
Pleurisy: Take 2 oz. each of Pleurisy root, Marsh
Mallow root, Licorice Root and Slippery Elm bark. Boil in 3 pints
of water down to 3 cups. Dose: 1/2 teaspoonful every half-hour, to
be taken warm.
Joint
Pain: An excellent poultice for severe rheumatic and
gouty affections, particularly of the joints, is made by mixing
with hot vinegar equal quantities of wheaten Bran with Slippery
Elm powder.
Marshmallow
Ointment: One of the principal ointments used in
herbal medicine, Marshmallow Ointment contains a large amount of
Slippery Elm bark in its composition. It is made as follows:
Gather together 3 ounces of Marshmallow leaves, 2 ounces of
Slippery Elm bark powder, 3 ounces of Beeswax and one pound of
lard. Boil the Marshmallow and Slippery Elm bark in 3 pints
of water for 15 minutes. Express, strain and reduce the liquor to
half a pint. Melt together the lard and wax by gentle heat, then
add the extract while still warm, shake constantly till all are
thoroughly incorporated and store in a cool place.
Tooth
Decay: It has been asserted that a pinch of the
Slippery Elm powder put into a hollow tooth stops the ache and
greatly delays decay, if used as soon as there is any sign of
decay.
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