Effects and functions of alder bark

Alder bark is a very common Chinese medicine. Although it is very common, it has many magical effects. Let’s take a look at it below.

[Source] Medicinal material source: The bark of Alnus alnus, a plant of the Betulaceae family.

【Original form】Large deciduous tree, 30-40m high. The bark is smooth and gray; the branches are gray or gray-brown, glabrous, and the young branches have short soft hairs; the buds are petiolate and have 2 bud scales. Simple leaves are alternate; petiole is 1-2cm long, almost glabrous; leaf blade is obovate, obovate-oblong or elliptic, 4-14cm long, 2.5-8cm wide, with acute apex, broad cuneate base, sparsely serrated margin, sparsely glandular dots on the upper side, sparsely pubescent when young, densely glandular dots on the lower side, almost glabrous, sometimes with clusters of whiskers in the vein axils; 8-10 pairs of lateral veins. The flowers are unisexual and monoecious; the male flowers are catkins, solitary, pendulous, 3-4 cm long, with 3 flowers per bract; the female inflorescence is spherical, with 2 flowers per bract, without calyx, and the bracteoles are attached to the bracts. The fruit cluster is solitary, drooping, oblong, 1-3.5cm long, 5-20mm in diameter, the infructescence stalk is slender, soft, 2-8m long, glabrous, the fruit bract is woody, with 5 shallow lobes at the tip. The nutlets are ovate, flat, about 3 mm long, and have membranous wings. The flowering period is April-May, and the fruiting period is August-September.

[Habitat distribution] Ecological environment: Grown in ditches or forests in mountainous areas, often growing in groups.

【Nature and flavor】 Bitter; astringent; cool

【Functions and indications】 Cooling blood and stopping bleeding; clearing away heat and detoxifying. It is used for vomiting blood, epistaxis, metrorrhagia, enteritis, dysentery, conjunctivitis caused by wind and fire, and impetigo.

[Usage and Dosage] For oral use: decoction, 10-15g. For external use: take appropriate amount of fresh product, mash it and apply it; or boil it in water for washing.

【Excerpt】 Chinese Materia Medica

The above are the effects and functions of alder bark. We can also eat alder bark reasonably according to our own situation to relieve the pain caused by the disease.