Tree Medicine for the Sustainable Apothecary
- Kat Mackinnon.
- May 10, 2016
- 4 min read
"A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one's suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home." ~Hermann Hesse
New England suburbia. Deserted Utah Canyonlands. Taiwanese airport terminals.
Look just about anywhere in the world, and you see most folks gravitating towards three things: Other humans*, water and trees. Always trees.
Something way back in our monkey mind, our reptilian hindbrain speaks quietly but persistently to us. It say’s “Huh, trees. Shelter. Food. Medicine. Comfort. What a good idea-let’s go over there.”
And by golly if that hind brain isn’t on to something.
*(Note: For herbalists, there is sometimes a tendency to skip the other humans and go right to the trees).
Sustainability
One of the best things about using tree (and shrub) medicinals is that they are often quite sustainable compared to herbs with less persistent growth. Take pine and osha, for example. Both are expectorant, antimicrobial, and have a general affinity for respiratory mucosa. Now it can be argued (and with good reason) that osha has a stronger action in many respects than pine. But…it’s far easier to sustainably wildcraft a pound of pine than a pound of osha.
That being said.
As with any other herb, tree species each have their own specific bits and pieces that can be used. Along with the usual parts of flowers, leaves, seeds, and fruits, trees also hold a great deal of food and medicine in their bark, more specifically their inner bark and cambium.
This is the tricky bit regarding sustainability. The inner bark layer of trees is where it’s at for herbalists, but perhaps more importantly, for the trees themselves. It acts as the conduit for water and nutrients, as well as being the space for growth.
We all think of trees growing outwards. Really a tree grows in both directions. Inwards from the inner bark and cambium, making xylem (‘wood’ to the uninitiated), and outwards from the cambium, making phloem. This second bit is what turns into the stuff we can see, the outerbark, which protects the tree from, well, everything.
The cambium is essential to a trees life-force. Imagine applying a tourniquet to one of your limbs. And leaving it there. For good. That’s what happens when you remove a tree’s cambium layer all the way round, also known as ‘girdling’. The tree simply cannot transport what it needs to maintain life.
This is an important bit of plant anatomy if you’re going to sustainably harvest. NEVER GIRDLE A TREE. This may seem obvious, but I’ve seen it happen enough times to make it worth mentioning. In fact, most of the time there is no need to take inner bark from the main trunk of the tree. For most of us small time herbalists and wildcrafters, you can get all you need simply by taking smaller side branches.
Many species actually respond well to this, and if pruned in the right way, will thrive on this kind of human browse. If you’re interested in more specifics on this, see Kat Anderson’s book, ‘Tending the Wild’. Gives a great perspective on humans being an integral part of a healthy landscape. Or you can come to my class at the conference:)
Medicinal Trees and Shrubs
Below is a small list of trees and shrubs that I’ve used for food and medicine. There are about 1000 native species, another 200 or so naturalized, and goodness knows how many cultivated varieties of tree in North America. These are just a taste-the ones I’ve found useful over the years specifically here in our Rocky Mountain bioregion.
Abies spp. (fir)
Aesculus hippocastanea (horse chestnut)
Alnus spp. (alder)
Amelanchier Canadensis (serviceberry, shadblow)
Artemisia tridentata (sagebrush, western sage)
Betula spp. (Birch)
Celtis spp. (celtis, hackberry)
Cercocarpus spp. (mountain mahogany)
Cornus sericea (red twig dogwood, red osier, red willow)
Corylus spp. (Hazelnut)
Crataegus spp. (hawthorne)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)
Juniperus spp. (juniper, western cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip poplar)
Tilia spp., (linden, basswood, bee-tree)
Picea spp. (spruce)
Pinus spp. (pine)
Populus spp. (aspen, cottonwood)
Prunus virginiana (scrubcherry, chokecherry)
Purshia tridentata (bitterbrush, antelope brush)
Quercus spp. (oak)
Rhus trilobata, R. glabra, R. typhina (Three-leaf sumac, staghorn sumac)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Salix spp. (willow)
Ulmus pumila (Siberian elm)
Demulcents and astringents. Antifungals, antimicrobials, antiseptics, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatories. Nutritives and alteratives. Styptics and vulneraries. Expectorants and antitussives. Cardio and venous tonics. Bitters and carminatives. Tree medicine has all the herbal actions you could ask for in an apothecary, along with often being in delightful abundance. Sustainable, practical, and beautiful, these keystone species are well worth getting to know.
Kat will be teaching two classes at Mountain West Herb Gathering in 2016. The first is on Friday the 17th, "Medicine of the Trees", and "Wild Western Weeds" on Saturday. These are two classes you don't want to miss! Join us today!
About the Author
Kat is a certified clinical herbalist and nutritionist, as well as a certified Bach essences practitioner through the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism. She is also a Registered Herbalist through the American Herbalists Guild. She currently works as faculty and student services coordinator for the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism.
Kat also has her own clinical practice and runs a small business, Meet the Green, through which she teaches classes on herbalism. She also has a blog, Discover the Green, on botany, herbal medicine, and any other information on plants she finds interesting. Though a transplant from the East Coast, Kat has a passion for working with the herbs nearest to her. Having studied forestry at Northern Arizona University, the plants, animals, and incredible harsh beauty of the Southwest are one of the great loves of her life. Between teaching and working, she spends her time wild crafting and running in the mountains, gardening in the lowlands, and medicine making in between. Her other interests include art, primitive skills, birds, and generally geeking out on the natural world.
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