The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Wahoo or Burning Bush

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

Today, I tell you about the medicinal uses of this very pretty small tree.The Spring Foraging Cook Book is available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRP63R54Or you can buy the eBook as a .pdf directly from the author (me), for $9.99:https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-spring-foraging-cookbook.htmlYou can read about the Medicinal Trees book here https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/06/paypal-safer-easier-way-to-pay-online.html or buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1005082936PS. New in the woodcraft Shop: Judson Carroll Woodcraft | SubstackRead about my new books:Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/medicinal-weeds-and-grasses-of-american.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47LHTTHandConfirmation, an Autobiography of Faithhttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/confirmation-autobiography-of-faith.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNKVisit my Substack and sign up for my free newsletter: https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/Read about my new other books:Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies, an Herbalist's Guide https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/11/medicinal-ferns-and-fern-allies.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMSZSJPSThe Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-omnivores-guide-to-home-cooking-for.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGKX37Q2Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/06/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-of.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2T4Y5L6andGrowing Your Survival Herb Garden for Preppers, Homesteaders and Everyone Elsehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/04/growing-your-survival-herb-garden-for.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4LYV9RThe Encyclopedia of Medicinal Bitter Herbs: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-encyclopedia-of-bitter-medicina.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5MYJ35RandChristian Medicine, History and Practice: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/01/christian-herbal-medicine-history-and.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09P7RNCTBHerbal Medicine for Preppers, Homesteaders and Permaculture People: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/10/herbal-medicine-for-preppers.htmlAlso available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09HMWXL25Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/southern-appalachian-herbsBlog: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/Free Video Lessons: https://rumble.com/c/c-618325

Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. Continuing our series on medicinal uses of trees, I'm going to get into a really interesting one this week. It's called Euonymus. That's the Latin name. Let's see if I can get it. Euonymus autopropyreus, more commonly known as wahoo or burning bush it's also related to spindle tree the English variety is called spindle tree we'll get into that a little bit this this one has some toxicity but does have some really interesting medicinal uses as well it's really one of my favorite plants the mountains the appalachians where i live are really known for uh burning bush as we call it um actually there's i guess they're still there there's a whitewater rafting company in in boone you know guide service they take people out and it's called wahoos so i mean a lot of there's a lot of association with my region in

this plant um really because it's so pretty in the fall its leaves turn deep red so you know everybody comes up to the Appalachian mountains goes out of the blue urge parkway goes on the viaduct that you see on just about every car commercial on television. If you're not familiar with the Linco Viaduct, look it up. It's one of the truly prettiest areas of the entire world, in my opinion, especially in the fall when all the colors are bright red and gold. The Wahoo or the burning bush has that same deep red color in the winter in the fall into early winter and it's you know more at ground level i don't think they really grow more than about maybe six feet tall seven at most and the um the stem the has a really unique um like winged ridges, a very easy plant to learn to identify, and very, I think very pretty,

very pretty plant, but not much used medicinally. The Cherokee used it quite a bit more, and the Catawbas, well, certainly than we do now, but like I said, it is an interesting tree, and we're going to start actually with the English variety because it's got the most documentation. And it's also Euonymus autopurperaceus, maybe slightly different in form, but it's the same plant, you know, different environment. And that was called spindle tree in England. And Miss Greve, in her modern herbal from the 1930s, said botanical name, Euonymus autopurperans, or Euonymus europoas. Europoas, that means the Euonymus that grows in Europe. They seem to be the same plant. in Europe. They seem to be the same plant. She said the Latin name was Fusus, F-U-S-U-S,

and some of the older writers called this plant Fusanum. So, also goes by the name Fusaria or Fusano. I mean, it's really many names for the same plant. That's what it comes down to. The fruit is usually given three or four as a dose, as a purgative in rural districts. What does that mean? Well, it's like a purgative, generally speaking, really violent diarrhea. But it can also sometimes be used as what we now call emetic, which means makes you throw up or do both at the same time. So obviously you can see why it would be an important plant. If you've taken something poisonous or something, you need to get out of your system. If you've got a serious problem with constipation, it's certainly not my go-to.

Certainly not my go-to. I think, actually in early America, Mayapple was a very popular purgative. And it's actually described as a violent and irritating purgative. So if I need the use of a laxative, let's say, I want to not use a violent and irritating purgative. Burning Bush would be an option. I mean it doesn't have quite as rough a refutation as mayapple so you can see how desperate our ancestors were especially in the winter time for fiber but and you know fresh vegetables is what I mean. Really my go to is going to be kombucha.

Kombucha, yeah, the fermented tea drink. One cup taken on an empty stomach in the morning is excellent for your gut health and regularity, as they say. Two, and within the next hour, you're going to be in the bathroom. I mean, especially if it starts getting sour, it will clean you out. out and you got to be careful with it actually a little bit they don't really tell you that if you buy kombucha in the store but they also don't tell you that most of the kombucha you buy in stores been pasteurized and has no health benefit to you whatsoever essentially except for some anti-accident properties no you need to make your own kombucha and you can get what's called a mother.

That's the starter culture. They used to call it a tea mushroom from anybody who brews because they reproduce constantly. Or go to your local health food store. They'll probably have a bulletin board or you can put up a notice. Or go on eBay or your favorite seller and people sell them for two or three bucks. Really good. I got mine off of eBay from a guy that actually ended up being a student of Sandra Katz, who's like the fermentation expert. He's written a lot of books, really good books on fermented foods. And I mean, it's been great.

No complaints whatsoever. I paid him like less than five bucks total shipping and the guy was real nice sent me a lot of free pdfs and books and instructions on use and if I had any problems he'd replace it free of charge and if I had any questions get in touch anytime so yeah I mean i was thrilled with that you know um the my second go-to remedy would actually just be castor oil castor oil has a bad reputation because you know the flavor is not great but it's not horrible um it and it's actually a very gentle laxative it's very good for small children. And I think people just kind of got an aversion to it when they were kids. And they're like, ooh, castor oil. Well, actually, it's not

so bad. And that's what I use when my dog gets constipated, too. I give him castor oil. I prefer that to like psyllium and other fiber type products, because it just works quicker with less discomfort, you know. But, yeah, let's look at the euonymus. Let's see. And she said the decoction, that means, you know, making a tea of the plant, adding some vinegar is used as the lotion for mange in horses and cattle. And I thought that was very interesting. I think we're talking

probably the bark, the leaves of the plant boiled down is used for mange. So that's good. In allusion to the actively irritating properties of the shrub, its name is Euonymus, is associated with that of Euonymy, the mother of furies. So maybe it is a bit of an irritating purgative. I'm not sure. I have not tried it, and I don't wish to. And old herbals, it is called skewerwood or prickwood. It was actually used to make toothpicks. That's why it was called prickwood, by the way.

Gator, gotten, gadros, and chaucer, and one of his poems calls it gatre, gatre, Gatre, I guess, I don't know, but let's get back to herbal use. That name seems to come from the Anglo-Saxon word gad or goad and tree, so it was the goad tree, and that's because the driver of oxen or cattle or whatever would make a goad. That's what, you know, you kind of prod the animals on with. From a twig from the burning bush. So I don't know why that was preferred, but it's an old English tradition.

And there's so many names. I mean, like I said, Spindletree, Spilboom in the Netherlands. I mean, it's just, it's really interesting how this one gets so many interesting names. In fact, in America, it's known sometimes as Indian Arrowwood. I don't see how we could really make good arrows out of it. Now, okay, pruneune back it does get some nice straight shoots you know again grows up yeah maybe I can see it in its wild form I don't really see it but back to the medicinal uses it is tonic

alternative, colagogue, laxative, and a hepatic stimulant. Tonic means it can help stimulate appetite usually okay. Alternative means it can help stimulate appetite usually okay alternative means it can be used to as what we would now generally think of as a tonic something that generally gradually can bring you back to health let's see laxative well you got that hepatic stimulant means it can stimulate liver I guess we covered everything in In small doses, it stimulates the appetite and the flow of gastric juices. In larger doses, it is irritant to the intestines and is cathartic. So yes, it's going to get you going. It has slight diuretic and expectorant

effects, but is only used as a purgative in cases of constipation in which the liver is disordered and for which it is particularly efficacious. So if the liver is inflamed, weak, not doing its job, and that's causing constipation, then apparently this is when you would want to use this plant. She says it is especially valuable in liver disorders which follow or accompany a fever. It is mildly apparent and causes no nausea, at the same time stimulating the liver somewhat freely to produce a free flow of bile. So, yeah, it's a very useful plant. She says to make it a coction, add an ounce of the plant to a pint of water and boil together slowly. Again, she doesn't really say which part of the plant, so hopefully we can get a little more information on that as we go,

other than the berries, you know, she mentioned the berries. Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests calls the same plant again, burning bush, strawberry tree, fishwood, and spindle tree. He said it was, this is the French botanist who wrote this book in the, during the Civil War. It was rare growing in the swamps around St. John's in near Charleston, but was found more in North Carolina. I guess he hadn't gotten up the mountains because we have a lot of it. He said that Griffin's medical botany listed as emetic that means it makes you throw up actually uh and anti-syphiletic it was also thought to be

narcotic the seeds are said to be nauseous purgative and emetic so he's saying it would both make you throw up and have diarrhea and make you nauseous so like i said not one i really want to use but it was also used in to destroy vermin in the hair that means it would help get rid of lice so that's something again you know in a survival situation you would want to know uh he said the leaves were poisonous to cattle um i've seen other sources saying they aren't so so I can't attest to that. The Wahoo possesses similar properties to, let's see, what was that? Ioannimus inericonus. I'm thinking that should be Americanus, actually. So, probably the one that grows more in the swamps was what he was talking about,

and he's making a differentiation between that and the one that grows in the mountains. He said, Dr. Wood, in the 12th edition of the U.S. Dispensatory, states that Mr. G.W. Carpenter had introduced a bark some 20 years earlier as a remedy for dropsy under the name wahoo. So, in this case, we are using the bark. He having obtained a knowledge of its virtues in the western states, Dr. W ascertained that it was derived from this plant, which must be distinguished from the elm. Well, that's true. Sometimes the elm is called Wahoo in folklore.

The bark imparts its virtue to water and alcohol so you can make a tea or a tincture of it by analysis of mr wt wenzel it was found to contain a bitter principle which he named euanymine and several other properties we don't really need to know about uh dr twyman of missouri informed dr wood that he had found the bark as cathartic, rather from its, rather, oh, as a cathartic, similar to rhubarb. So rhubarb was a very popular laxative. So a lot of fiber, it stimulates. So maybe it's not as unpleasant as we were led to believe. Let's see. He thought he obtained from it good results as an

alternative to hepatic functions and the decoction or infusion, I guess liver, you know, he said it was good for the liver. The decoction or infusion is used in dropsy, that's edema, that's excess fluid, made into a proportion of one ounce to a pint of water and given the dose of a wine glass full several times a day. So it's a pretty big dose, actually, a wine glass full several times a day. So maybe it's not so unpleasant. Let's see what King's American Dispensatory, this pharmacy manual from 1898 says, euonymus has been in use among physicians for a long time. Its bark is tonic, laxative,xative alternative diuretic and expectorant the seeds are cathartic and emetic so okay the bark is good as a laxative and a diuretic etc

and has the expectorant quality the seeds are what make you nauseous and throw up so we got that cleared up um and if in an infusion syrup extract, it has been successfully used in intermittence, that's usually malarial fevers, dyspepsia, that means indigestion, torpid liver, constipation, dropsy, and pulmonary affections. Professor Locke states there are but few good stomach tonics, and this agent is one of them. Well, that's really good to know. stomach tonics and this agent is one of them but that's really good to know it stimulates the bilayeri flow and has considerable anti-malarial influence very important to know in the age of COVID and you know pandemics and such and may be used in inner minutes after the chill has been broken with quinine it stimulates the nutritive process and improves the appetite it may be used

with advantage in atonic dyspepsia and an indigestion due to hepatic toper it comes from the Latin word for paralysis so if that makes any sense to you or following malarial fevers it is a remedy for chronic ague that means fever, and consequent obstinate constipation and gastric debility accompanying or following it. They made a tincture out of it using gin, which they found was particularly valuable in cases of dropsy, especially when associated with hepatic and renal inactivity,

so that's good for the kidneys is too uh very interesting uh i guess it was the juniper and the gin uh probably made this work a little bit better specific indications and uses um well we just covered all that don't worry about that um getting into more modern times plants for the future says of our native Wahoo, Wahoo is used in various ways by the North American Indians, for example, as an eye lotion, as a poultice for facial sores and gynecological conditions. In current herbalism, it is considered to be a gallbladder remedy with laxative and diuretic properties. The bark, however, is toxic and should only be used under professional supervision.

See, that's what I was always told. It should only be used under professional supervision. See, that's what I was always told. It should not be given to pregnant women or nursing mothers, obviously. The stem and root bark is alternative cardiac, I mean, you know, good for the heart, cathartic, colagogue, diuretic, expectorant, hepatic, laxative, stimulant, and tonic. The root bark is the part normally used. The bark from the stems is sometimes employed as a substitute. In small doses, it stimulates the appetite. In large doses, it irritates the intestines. The bark is especially useful in the treatment of bilisness and liver disorders, which follow or accompany fevers, and for treating various skin disorders

such as eczema, which could arrive from poor liver and gallbladder function. various skin disorders such as eczema, which could arrive from poor liver and gallbladder function. Eczema is often called a weakened liver. It should also be used as a tea in the treatment of malaria, fever, congestion, and constipation, etc. The powdered bark applied to the scalp was believed to eliminate dandruff. The bark and root contain digitoxin and have a digitalis-like effect on the heart. Now that's interesting. They have been used in the treatment of heart conditions. The

bark, which has a sweetish taste, sweetish, not Swedish, it tastes sweet, is gathered in the autumn and dried for later use. The tea made from the roots is used in cases of uterine prolapse, vomiting of blood, painful urination, stomach aches. The seed is emetic, meaning it makes you throw up. And finally, I went to the physician's desk reference for herbal medicine, and they actually did list it. It says the drug is reported to be laxative and choleretic. Larger doses have an effect on the heart.

In the past, the drug was used as a colagogue, laxative, diuretic and tonic, and for dyspepsia. Today, it is used in homeopathy. Precautions and adverse reactions. Poisoning caused by the berries have been recorded. A fatal dose is said to be 36 berries. Wahoo root, bark, and fruit are not recommended for use as the drug is considered too dangerous well I think this is all very interesting remember these are things you need to know in case we get into a situation where you can't get to a doctor or a pharmacy and you had need of a plant like this it's

not one I'm gonna recommend because it does have some some toxicity i mean obviously you wouldn't sit there and eat 36 berries unless you know you were starving or something um i it seems to be a plant with a lot of historical medical use i have not used it i suppose i need to experiment with it a little bit you want to be careful of anything that has a digitalis like effect you know anything that affects the heart you want to be careful with but yeah I might add a little bit of this to a bitters formula or for digestion and liver health yeah that's probably how I would use it i like the uh uh to know it's it's a a remedy for head lice and such because you know that could really be a problem if you

couldn't get to the drugstore and buy that what rid or whatever and your kids or you had lice uh you would definitely want to want to take care of that so yeah uh interesting tree beautiful i mean i think more of a bush it's not like it's a small tree absolutely beautiful one you can certainly incorporate into your landscape and you're going to be really glad he did because it is really pretty and it's interesting you know we have in in herbal medicine what's called the doctrine of signatures and that's the idea that kind of like god gave clues for a plant's use and it's in its appearance and some people believe it and some don't but one of the um more

valid i think and interesting um rules of that is that anything yellow is essentially good for the liver well you think about the the wahoo the burning bush whatever you would call it like i said the leaves are green in the summer they turn bright red in the winter well the bark is brown brown and green really if you cut it the wood is actually yellow the wood is actually almost like dandelion colored yellow so i think uh there you have it you know the old wisdom kind of bears out sometimes so anyway y'all have a a great week and i'll talk to you next time the information this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition nothing i say or write has been evaluated or approved by the fda i'm not a doctor. The U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine,

and there is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs. I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs help me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself.

You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.