willow bark anyone?

this is common knowledge for most woods folk but here is a interesting link regarding the historical use of willow.

http://westerndigs.org/prehistoric-p...tural-aspirin/

That's a good article. Thanks for posting. You wonder how mankind discovered some of the remedies.

Shaman: "Try this".
Patient: Drinks potion and falls over dead.
Shaman: Scratches potion off list

Shaman: "Try this".
Patient: "Wow! I feel better already!"
Shaman: Circles potion

Had to be trial and error.

I wonder who thought to use chaga. Chaga's nickname is bear poop smeared on a tree, doesn't sound appetizing to me. LOL

I wanna know who tried Preparation "A".........

I will tell you that stripping the bark off a bunch of willow stems does make your fingers tingle.....

Very good article. Willow and "toothache tree" are still useful today but obviously wise to use common sense and not overdose on them. Often people want instant relief and if they don't get it they take more and more and that can be a problem.

http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08...ache-tree.html

When I was a kid in the tropics I planted a large number of passion flower/fruit vines and we drank the fruit juice often. So years later when I purchased a house in Texas and I saw a "maypop" vine for sale at a nursery I bought it with high hopes. These hopes were dashed since the temperate climate spices of passion flower vines produce tiny almost useless fruit. However, a sedative tea can be made from the leaves but according to some people who know a lot more than me, a few people have overdosed on this and gone into comas. This may be a myth but I prefer to be cautious.

http://organicallyintune.com/here-ar...on-flower.html

The article says "a substance derived from willow bark" so was there some sort preparation done before using it as a medicine? I have never tried it, but I was under the impression that you only needed the inner willow bark for a medicine.

another cool use for willow bark is rooting hormone.

soak the bark(or just chipped up twigs) in water and add your clippings to it. my great grand father used to tell me that good old fashioned willow bark works better than the stuff you buy at a store. truth was, he tried to mix rooting hormone powder in the water he was soaking his cuttings in, and it didnt work. then he never tried it again.