Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Magnolia

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, welcome to today's show. We're continuing our series on the medicinal uses of fairly common trees and today we're going to get to one of my absolute favorites and it is the magnolia. I mean there is no tree more

[00:00:17] emblematic of the south than magnolia, Grandiflora, the one with the nice big blossoms. But there are actually there's several varieties. Let me see We got six that are native to my region, the cucumber tree which grows more in the mountains where I live and it has small flowers.

[00:00:36] You've got the Fraser Magnolia, the Big Leaf Magnolia, Umbrella Tree and a very interesting one, Magnolia Virginiana or Sweet Bay. But overall there are 11 varieties of magnolia that have been found useful in herbal medicine.

[00:00:56] And you've probably got one that grows in your area. If not, you can probably get one growing beautiful tree. The blossoms have a strong lemon scent and they're actually edible. Magnolias in the Bay family. They're bitter, but you know they are edible and

[00:01:17] you know you get used to them. They're not bad at all. The Miss Grieve wrote of magnolia. Let's see, she describes it first and I'm just gonna say if you don't know what a magnolia tree is just Google it. You know pretty pretty darn easy to identify.

[00:01:41] She says the bark has no astringency. The tonic properties are found in varying degrees in several species. Her medicinal actions and uses says a mild diaphoretic. That means it helps with fevers. It's tonic that generally means it's good for the stomach and appetite and all that.

[00:02:03] Aromatic and stimulant. It is used in rheumatism and malaria and it has a quinine type property and that's one of the reasons it's good for fever. Contra indicated in inflammatory symptoms in the Allegheny districts the cones are steeped in spirits to make a tonic tincture.

[00:02:21] She says a warm infusion is laxative and suitorific, a cold one being anti-periodic and mildly tonic. So it can actually help with excessive menstrual bleeding. Other species she lists is Virginia and the umbrella tree and those were the ones she knew in

[00:02:44] England, but she also mentions especially a folk use here in America that chewing the bark is a substitute for tobacco. I don't have an addiction to tobacco. I enjoy the occasional cigar and everything but

[00:03:00] people who do say that chewing the bark of magnolia as a substitute for tobacco is said to cure the habit and that's something I believe was learned from the Cherokee if I remember correctly. Let's see under resources of the southern fields and forests

[00:03:19] they include the swamp laurel as well as the bay laurel under magnolia and that's magnolia glauca I believe. They say it is stimulant aromatic and tonic with considerable diaphoretic powers. The leaves steep in brandy or decoctioned therein are valuable in pectoral affections, it means chest colds and such.

[00:03:44] Recent colds etc. The tincture is made by macerating the fresh cones and seeds or the bark of the root in brandy which best extracts as much use as a popular remedy in rheumatism and in intermittent fevers. That's interesting because Ms. Grievitz said it wasn't good for

[00:04:03] inflammatory conditions, but obviously rheumatism arthritis would be so according to Barton and is good in use in inflammatory gout. Lindley refers to it as a valuable tonic. Bark of the root according to Griffith was employed by the Indians to fulfill a variety of indications warm decoction

[00:04:26] acts as a general laxative and subsequently as a suitorific whilst the cold decoction powder or tincture is tonic. These approved very beneficial in the hands of regular practitioners and the treatment for minutes of a typhoid character.

[00:04:40] It is supposed by many residing in the lower portion of South Carolina that this tree prevents the water and bogs and galls from generating malaria. So it certainly seems that the water is much clearer where the bay tree grows. I've never noticed that.

[00:04:55] I'll have to take a look at that next time. But getting into the grand floor, the one with the big flowers everybody thinks of you know it's being in Georgia and everything.

[00:05:05] You know, Mississippi, Louisiana just known for those well so does North Carolina and South Carolina. The South is known for magnolia. He says the magnificent tree grows beautifully along the seacoast and the streets of Charleston. It gives a lot of

[00:05:20] locations, Georgia, North Carolina, places he had studied it. Says that Proctor in his analysis in the American Pharmacy Journal found this species contain a volatile oil, resin and a crystallizable principal. Analogous to the Liriodendron. Let's see. So the seeds were used in Mexico with success in paralysis.

[00:05:48] I don't have no idea how that is but anyway the cucumber tree, the small one that grows in the mountains and he mentions that grows in the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina,

[00:05:58] says the kind of the species employed in the form of a spirituous tincture and romantic affection so good for arthritis again. The flowers of most of magnolias excel a strong aromatic flavor,

[00:06:10] fragrance I'm sorry, the bark of all possess a combination of bitter and hotly aromatic properties without a stringency and that of many acts as a powerful medicine in similar way to Peruvian bark which is Tinchona from which they make quinine.

[00:06:26] So Magnolia and Tulip Poplar and Dogwood are all very good substitutes for quinine or Tinchona. King's American Dispensatory of 1898 says magnolia bark is an aromatic tonic bitter of reputed efficacy and appears to likewise possess anti-periodic properties. Intermittent fevers have been cured by it after Tinchona had failed.

[00:06:54] It is not so apt to disagree with the stomach and bowels nor to induce fullness of the head as Tinchona and can be continued a longer time with more safety in all respects. Its curative agency is said to be favored by the

[00:07:11] diaphoretic action which generally follows its administration in dyspepsia. That's basically stomach upset, gas and such. With loss in the tone of stomach is very useful as a tonic and has also proved of much service in the treatment of reminence with typoid symptoms. That's intermittent fevers,

[00:07:29] malaria or typoid type of fevers. The warm infusion acts as a gentle laxative and suitorific. A cold one is a tonic and anti-periodic as does also the tincture and powder. The powder is considered preferable form of administration. The bark of the Borrella Magnolia

[00:07:48] chewed as a substitute for tobacco has cured an inveterate tobacco chewer of the filthy habit and deserves a further trial among those who wish to break up the pernicious practice. I guess they didn't like people that chewed tobacco in 1898. The bark and powder may be administered in

[00:08:09] doses repeated five six times a day. It says it's good for chronic rheumatism. Tincture made by adding an ounce of the powder to a pint of brandy. Let it macerate or basically just kind of sit for 10 or 12 days. Shake it up about once a day is

[00:08:26] what we usually do. Keep it in a dark place. Don't put in the sun. Maybe give it a tablespoon doses three times a day for the same purpose. Tincture made by two ounces of the cones to a pint of brandy has

[00:08:38] long been used as a domestic remedy for dyspepsia and chronic rheumatism is given three or four times today in doses of one to four fluid drachms. We don't really use drachms so much anymore, so it's kind of hard for me to tell you exactly what that

[00:08:54] measurement translates to but that was common dosage by pharmacists in the back then. Magnolia is contraindicated wherever inflammatory symptoms are present. So though in possessing undoubted tonic properties, magnolia is seldom employed. Plants for future states of grandiflora. The bark is diaphoretic stimulant and tonic.

[00:09:17] It's used in the treatment of malaria and rheumatism. Dacoccia has been used as a wash and a bath for prickly heat itching. The Dacoccia has also been used as a wash for sores and as a steam bath for treating dropsy.

[00:09:30] That's edema. An alcoholic extract of the plant reduces blood pressure, produces a slight acceleration respiration, but has no action on the heart. The kumonata or cucumber tree, a tea made from the bark is anti periodic, aromatic, mildly diaphoretic, laxative, stimulant and tonic.

[00:09:50] It has historically been used as substitute for quinine in the treatment of malaria. An infusion has been used to the treatment of stomach ache and cramps. The bark has been chewed by people trying to break the tobacco habit. A hot infusion of the bark has been

[00:10:03] snuffed to treat sinus problems. That means this guy's up the nose to treat sinus problems and has also been held in the mouth to treat toothaches. The bark is harvested in the autumn and dried for later use. It does not store well,

[00:10:16] so should be renewed annually. A tea made from the fruit is a tonic used in the treatment of general debility and was formally esteemed in the treatment of stomach ailments. Macrophila. An infusion of the bark has been used in the treatment of stomach aches and cramps.

[00:10:33] A hot infusion of the bark has been snuffed for treating sinus problems and has been held in the mouth for treating toothache. The interesting, I'm going to tell you about Virginia, Virginia Magnoia now.

[00:10:48] And this is actually rather interesting. Wait until you get to the last sentence of this statement. A tea made from the bark is anti-periodic, aromatic, diaphoretic, laxative, stimulant and tonic.

[00:10:58] It has historically been used as a substitute for quinine in the treatment of malaria and is also taken internally in the treatments of colds, bronchial diseases, upper respiratory infections, rheumatism and gout. The bark has been chewed by people trying to break the tobacco habit.

[00:11:13] The bark is harvested in the autumn and dried for later use. A tea made from the fruit is tonic used in the treatment of general debility, stomach ailments.

[00:11:21] There we go. The leaves or bark have been placed in cupped hands over the nose and inhaled as a mild hallucinogen. I have never tried it. I don't know if that's true or not. If you have a Virginia Magnoia, maybe you ought not do that.

[00:11:37] But if you do and you want to share the results of it, send me an email. I haven't found any other sources for that claim. Peterson Field Guide for medicinal plants says, Cucumber Magnoia bark tea historically used in place of Ginchona, the source of quinine,

[00:11:55] for malaria and typhoid fevers, also for indigestion, rheumatism, worms, toothaches. Bark chewed to break the tobacco habit. Fruit tea, a tonic for general debility and a steam for stomach ailments. Sweet Bay, this is Virginia on again. American Indians use leaf tea to warm blood, cure colds.

[00:12:16] Traditionally, bark used like that of Magnoia cuminata. Bark used for rheumatism, malaria and epilepsy. And finally, Botany in a Day tells us Magnoia. The bark of Magnoia is known for its aromatic and astringent properties. Now remember, first entry said it's not astringent.

[00:12:35] Well, Botany in a Day says it is astringent. But you gotta remember, Ms. Grieve was in England where they didn't even really have Magnoia like we have in America. So I'm gonna go with what Botany in a Day says.

[00:12:45] A tea of the bark is used as a diaphoretic and for indigestion or diarrhea. Reportedly drinking the tea can help break the tobacco habit. So he's not even talking chewing tobacco. He's talking cigarette smoking, anything you do with tobacco.

[00:12:58] So I think that's very valuable as a medicinal plant. But also, if you're trying to quit smoking, if you're trying to go chewing tobacco or something, you might try Magnoia bark. It certainly has that reputation. So y'all, I hope you are staying safe and dry during this hurricane.

[00:13:23] It's right over me right now. So I'm gonna go ahead and cut this one short in case the power goes out when we're getting a ton of rain. So winds aren't too bad right now, but they're supposed to pick up.

[00:13:37] So I want to go ahead and get this one done quickly and I'll go ahead and post it. Let's hope and pray everybody stays safe and I'll talk to you all next time. I'm not offering any advice.

[00:14:12] 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.

[00:14:22] 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. The work for me may not work for you.

[00:14:36] 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,

[00:14:51] make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.