Ash

Fraxinus americana or Fraxinus excelsior

COMMON NAMES

• Ash
• American Ash
• Biltmore Ash
• Cane Ash
• Common Ash
• European Ash
• Weeping Ash
• White Ash

Ash is a slender tree that grows between 33 ft and 99 ft (10 and 30 meters) high. Its branches are hairless and a grayish-green. The bisexual flowers have no petals, but reddish stamens appear before the leaves open. The fruit (key fruit) contains a single seed.

Sometimes called American ash, the regal white ash could well be called the all-American tree. Not only does it provide the wood for baseball bats but it is also one of the most common shade trees in the eastern half of the United States, where it is native. The timber is tough and pliant, supplying wood for everything from church pews to bowling alleys.

The American Indians showed the early settlers a medicinal use for almost every part of the tree. The Connecticut Indians used the sap to treat external cancerous growths-one Mrs. Loomis attested to the cure. In Maine the Penobscot tribe valued a decoction (extract) of ash leaves as an antiseptic for internally cleansing women after childbirth. Other tribes specified a tea made from the bark as a treatment for an itching scalp and sores, and a leaf tea as a vermifuge, or agent that expels worms from the body. Even the seeds were used: as an aphrodisiac, a diuretic, an appetite stimulant, and a remedy for fevers. In the 19th century American physicians prescribed white ash preparations as a styptic, to stop minor bleeding; as an emetic, to promote vomiting; and for a variety of other purposes.

PARTS USED

Leaves, mature seeds, inner bark.

USES

Ash bark is tonic and astringent. Rarely used in herbal medicine today, it is occasionally taken for fever. The leaves are also astringent, and they have a laxative and diuretic effect. They have been used as a mild substitute for senna.

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

Common in Europe, ash thrives in lowland and moorland. The leaves are gathered in summer, but the bark is gathered in spring.
Alkaline and moist soils, along the edges of woods and well-aerated grasslands where common ash can take up a lot of space to grow.

CONSTITUENTS

Leaves: vitamin C, sugar, coumarin, minerals (iron, copper, potassium), bioflavonoids.
Bark: bitter principles, tannins, rutin, resin.

APPLICATIONS

The dried leaves are used to produce herbal teas that are diuretic and fever-reducing. In the fall, use the fruit to prepare a mother tincture: 1 part fruit crushed in 4 parts alcohol. Macerate for 1 month, then strain. Men can take up to 10 drops, 30 minutes before sexual intercourse, but only once a day! Ash aids reproduction, but must be used in moderation, for its virilizing effect is very strong.
The inner bark - 1 T in 1 cup (250 ml) boiling water-represents a powerful diuretic and febrifuge. Consume at most 3 cups (750 ml) per day for no more than 10 consecutive days.

SPARKLING WINE

• 16 cups (4 liters) water
• 2 oz (60 g) ash leaves
• 1 3/4 oz (50 g) chicory root
• 4 Ib (2 kg) raw sugar
• 1 Ib (500 g) tartaric acid or cream of tartar
• 1 1/4 oz (40 g) champagne yeast

Boil the ash and the chicory in water for 10 minutes at low heat. Infuse for 2 hours. Add sugar, tartaric acid and yeast. Dissolve and allow to ferment about 10 days at 68 F degrees (20 C degrees) in a covered pot, but not completely closed (if not, the cover could fly off). Bottle. Wait 3 months. For a slimming or diuretic cure, drink small amounts (1 oz or 25 ml) before each meal for a period of 10 days. This homemade champagne treats fevers, gout and water retention.

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