Bird's Tongue
Parts Usually Used
Bark, leaves
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Bird’s tongue is a European tree, 100-130 feet in height; the leaves are opposite and odd pinnate, consisting of 7-11 ovate, acute, sessile, toothed leaflets. The small flowers appear before or with the leaves in spring and are borne in small, crowded panicles. The fruit is a one-seeded, flat samara that is winged at the top. Another variety: American ash (F. americana) also called the white ash.
Where Found
Commonly planted in parks and along streets and found wild in woods and along riverbanks and streams. North America, Europe, Asia and extending south into Mexico and Java.
Medicinal Properties
Bark: diuretic, febrifuge, stimulant, laxative Leaves: cathartic
Legends, Myths and Stories
The ash was a sacred tree of Scandinavian and Germanic tribes of northern Europe. According to their mythology a mighty ash tree, called Yggdrasill, served as a representative of the cosmos. The tree’s roots were the underworld, the earth or Midgard (meaning middle ground) was where the people lived, a disk surrounded by a ring of water. This disk and its circular ocean covered the tree’s lower branches, supported by the trunk.
In the upper branches, Valhalla, the heaven of the gods, was located, along with the land of the giants and the land of the frozen north. According to this same mythology, the universe, the gods, and the giants came into being first. After that, vegetation sprouted forth; then the gods created the first human couple out of two trees. The first man, who was called Ask, sprang from an ash tree; and the woman, Embla, was thought to have come from the elm or alder tree.
The name ash is derived from Ask. Pliny thought that the ash tree repelled snakes. According to him, if a snake had the choice of entering a ring of fire or going near the ash tree, the snake would jump into the fire.
Uses
Historically, herbalists used the bark of the ash tree for fevers, ague, and intestinal worms. In European tradition, a tea brewed from the leaves was popular as a purgative and was utilized by practitioners for conditions such as rheumatism, gout, arthritis, and dropsy. Early herbalists recorded giving the leaves infused in wine with the intention of curbing appetite, promoting weight loss, and addressing snakebites.
Historically, decoctions of the leaves were also applied to burns, scalds, and scabby skin conditions.
Bibliography
American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 Herbal Recipes , by David C.
Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1978, seventh printing, August 1996 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. , 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R.
, 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974