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Benefits |
Preparation |
Medicinal Uses |
Side Effects |
Plant |
Folklore |
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| Common Names |
| White Willow , |
| Botanical Name |
| Salix Alba |
| Family |
| SALICACEAE |
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White willow has been used to combat fevers and pain for thousands of years, it may be the oldest herb known to treat pain and inflammation, the oldest recorded use is by Chinese physicians in 500 B.C. White willow was also used in ancient Assyrian, Egyptian, and Greek medicine as well as Native American healers in North America.
The inner bark of the white willow tree contains salicin, which is changed to salicylic acid in the body. The compound in aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, is derived from salicylic acid.
Herbalists use white willow much the same as aspirin, ie; to reduce fevers, pain, and inflammation in conditions such as painful menstruation, arthritis, and neuralgia. White willow works slower, but lasts longer than aspirin, and has less side gastronomic side effects, due to the large amounts of tannins that protect the stomach. White willow is best when used over long periods of time and can take days to improve conditions. |
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Prep Methods : To relieve arthritic, back, and muscle aches and pains, a suggested dosage is 225 mg of white willow bark four times daily. It is hard to judge the amount of salicin in the bark, a bark tea can normally be taken 3 to 4 times daily, tincture doses start a 2 ml three times daily.
 Remedies using White Willow
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| Natural Aspirin | | The body converts the salicin in white willow into salicylic acid,.. for all practical purposes will and aspirin are the same. 400
(Duke, James A, Ph.D. ) | | Healing cuts, burns | | Cooled and applied externally, the decoction helps aid healing of sores, burns, or cuts. 1181
| | Colds, fever | | White willow can be used to help break a low grade fever, and to relieve the body aches that accompany colds. 1182
| | Raise metabolism | | White willow is used in many weight loss formulas for it's ability to raise the metabolic rate and enhance the action of other herbs. 1183
| | Chronic joint pain | | Willow bark is the original source of aspirin and many other medications for arthritis and rheumatism.Unlike aspirin, the salicylates in willow bark do not increase the risk of bleeding making willow bark useful for people who have chronic joint pain but cannot take NSAIDs or COX-2 inhibitors. 895
| | Cramps | | Willow bark (Salix) tincture is as effective as aspirin in relieving cramps, but less likely to cause flooding. Best in vinegar. (tincture). 1185
(Weed, Susan ) | | Inflammed gums | | Decoctions of willow bark tea can be used as a gargle to treat inflamed gums. 1180
| | Fibromyalgia | | Tinctures of willow bark (1-2 dropperfuls/1-2 ml) are highly recommended by women dealing with fibromyalgia. 1194
(Weed, Susan ) |
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| Side Effects: |
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| Do not take willow bark if you are allergic to aspirin, are currently taking anti-platelet or anticoagulant drugs, or a child under sixteen years of age who has symptoms of any kind of viral infection. Be aware that using other products or herbs containing salicylates at the same time (such as black cohosh, wintergreen essential oil, or commercial topical preparations such as Ben Gay), you increase the amount of salicylates in your bloodstream, and raise the risk of side effects. |
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 The white willow tree grows north to Nova Scotia and south to Georgia over the eastern portion of North America. A large tree with rough gray bark and slender, graceful branches that produce tiny, yellow flowers in April and May followed by thin, green leaves.
The bark is easily separable through the summer, and is the part that is used medicinally.
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 The active extract of the bark, called salicin, after the Latin name for the White Willow (Salix alba), was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicin, like aspirin, is a chemical derivative of salicylic acid.
Wikipedia |
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 The Moon owns it. Both the leaves, bark, and the seed, are used to stanch bleeding of wounds, and at mouth and nose, spitting of blood, and other fluxes of blood in man or woman, and to stay vomiting, and provocation thereunto, if the decoction of them in wine be drank. Nicholas Culpeper |
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Annies Remedys
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