The Tooth Ache Tree

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Peanut

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I’m posting about Aralia spinosa but it’s necessary to post about 3 other trees as their medicinal uses are so similar.

1) Aralia spinosa aka Devils Walking Stick, Tooth Ache Tree and Hercules Club

2) Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (Northern Prickly Ash)

3) Zanthoxylum americanum (Southern Prickly Ash) (At one time was named Zanthoxylum fraxineum)

4) Magnolia acuminata aka Cucumber Tree and Cucumber Magnolia

I'm quoting Darryl Patton's Book about the late great Tommie Bass and his teachings. The book is posted here https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/herbal-medicine-books-peanut-recommends.6745/

“If I had access to only 2 trees for the treatment of arthritis or rheumatism the Cucumber tree would be one. The other would be Southern Prickly Ash.” T. Bass

For many here in the south, Aralia spinosa is considered a shrub version of Southern Prickly Ash. Both were used routinely by Tommie Bass. Botanists consider Aralia spinosa and Zanthoxylum americanum unrelated. Medicinally speaking they are interchangeable despite what botanists say.

Most in these parts know Aralia spinosa as “The Tooth Ache Tree”. From personal experience I can say chewing the inner bark will numb your mouth (lips, tongue and gums) just like a big shot of novocaine.

For ear aches fry the bark in oil until it pops. Strain out the plant material and let the oil cool. A drop of cool oil in the ear will stop an ear ache in it’s tracks.

As a potent anti-inflammatory… The berries and inner bark are used in tincture form and as a tea. A tincture… 6oz of dried bark into a quart jar and cover with a pint of whisky, turn the jar over each day for 2 to 3 weeks then strain out the plant material. Use one teaspoon twice a day. For tea a teaspoon of dried and crushed inner bark is simmered for 10 minutes in a pint of water. Drink 3 times a day, I’d start with a cup each time.

As has been pointed out elsewhere… The two best solvents around… are Water and Alcohol. They extract the chemical properties from plant material. Sometimes either will extract the desired medicinal chemicals. Some plants are best used in tincture form, others only as tea.

Of the 4 trees posted here… only Magnolia acuminate and Aralia spinosa grow locally. I have personally only used these two as medicine.

Pics of Aralia spinosa in various stages of growth… Blooming, fruiting and dormant in winter. The leaves are “Bipinnately Compound.” The trunk is covered by wicked, nasty thorns. It grows to be 12 to 15ft in height. It grows from Maine to Texas.

Once I was carrying a new born calf out of some thick brush. The mother wasn’t happy with me and kept butting me, knocked me down a couple of times. Once after being butted I grabbed the trunk of a small tree for balance, it happened to be Aralia spinosa. Talk about pain as the thorns impaled my hand!!! It swelled up twice it’s normal size for several days and ached something awful.

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The black dots are on Aralia spinosa trees.
 
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Pics of Magnolia acuminate aka The Cucumber Tree. As an anti-inflammatory it’s the best of the 4 tree species. It grows from Alabama to Ontario and New England. Its leaves are huge and a whitish color underneath. When the leaves die and fall off, they are very thin. Walking through them is incredibly noisy.

The hollow where these photos were taken… Long ago a man, Mr. W, was notorious for making whiskey down that hollow. He purposely planted and set out Cucumber Trees for a couple of miles around.

My dad told me the story… as a teenager my dad was asked to use a tractor to pull out Mr. W’s truck that had become stuck while loaded with bootleg whisky. Mr. W told dad why he set out all those trees, so the revenooers couldn’t sneak up on him and catch him with the still. The noise of walking through the leaves could be heard for hundreds of yards.

The tree grows 30 to 40ft tall. Just like the other magnolias the blooms are white and quite beautiful.

Magnolia big leaf 013 sm.jpg
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Magnolia big leaf 017 sm.jpg
 
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Is there a nursery that sale cutting or seeds for these trees?
Thanks for another " I know that tree, just did not know it was a med tree".
As always you teach things I need to know. THANKS.
 
@joel you could call around and see. I personally never thought to try to buy Devils Walking Stick. It's fairly common in these parts, edges of fields and pastures. It grows in dry places just as often as near streams.
 
When I was in my preteens I had a lot of tooth decay, I think it was my foster mother that gave me whole cloves to stuff in the decay and it was amazing how well they numbed the pain. Now days I'm not sure that whole cloves are all that available, probably most people have clove powder. I also like a dash of clove powder in my hot chocolate.
 
Cloves are flower buds not yet opened.

Image result for where do cloves come from originally

Clove, (Syzygium aromaticum), tropical evergreen tree of the family Myrtaceae and its small reddish brown flower buds used as a spice. Cloves were important in the earliest spice trade and are believed to be indigenous to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, of Indonesia.

Kroger has both whole & ground cloves.
 
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