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Paper Birch | | Name : | Paper Birch | | Synonyms : | Canoebirch
Cherrybirch
Hua-mu
Mountainmahogany
Paperbirch
Spicebirch
Sweetbirch
Whitebirch
| | Parts Used : | Young leaves, inner bark, leaf buds | | Habitat : | Found growing in the northern United States, Canada, and the northernpart of Europe. Upland woods, often in pure stands, from Labradorto Alaska, near the northern limit for trees, south to North Carolinaand Colorado, in mountains in the south of its range. | | Description : | White birch is a tree grows to a height of 65 feet; it has chalkywhite bark which can be peeled off in horizontal strips. Its leavesare cordate, bright green above and lighter beneath, serrate, andglabrous or minutely hairy. The flowers are borne in yellowish maleand gray-green female catkins. When the male catkins turn yellow withpollen, the green female catkins enlarge to produce numerous two-wingedseeds, developing into seed cones. Flowers seen in April-May. | | Constituents : | Saponins, traces of essential oil, tannin, bitter principle, glycosides
Astringent, diuretic, diaphoretic | | Uses : | The leaf tea is reported to eliminate gravel and dissolve kidneystones when taken daily for a time, 1 to 1 1/2 cups a day. A decoctionof the leaves is sometimes recommended for baldness; or try the freshexpressed juice. Mild sedative. Use a wash or bath additive for chronicor severe skin problems. The inner bark contains an oil which is sometimessubstituted for wintergreen in liniment. Relieves headaches,menstrual cramps, abdominalcramps, gout, dropsy, acne,eczema, pruritis, rheumatismpains, diarrhea, colic,colitis, and dysentery.The liquid from boiling bark can be used to wash soresand wounds, boils,expels worms. Sap can be takenas a spring tonic orused as a hair tonic.
Beer is often made from the sap of sweet birch. A type of oil ofwintergreen is distilled from the inner bark and twigs. | | Dosage : | The leaves must be used fresh.
Infusion: use 1 tbsp. leaves with 1/2 cup water.
Decoction: use 1 tbsp. leaves with 1/2 cup water. Boil briefly,let stand for 2 hours, then add 1/2 tsp. bicarbonate of soda. Takeup to 1 cup a day.
Expressed juice: take 1 tsp. at a time, as required. | | Myths : | The inner bark contains an oil which is identical in flavor withthat of the wintergreen plant (Gaultheria procumbens). A wholesomewintergreen-flavored tea may be made by pouring boiling water or boilingbirch sap over diced pieces of the inner birch bark or birch twigsand letting it steep for a few minutes.
According to legend, Christ was beaten with birch rods. The fasces,a bound bundle of birch sticks enclosing an axe with the blade projecting,were carried by Roman soldiers in advance of emperors or importantofficials. These fasces symbolized the state's power to punish byflogging (the birch sticks) or by putting to death (the axe).
Birch wood has been used for furniture, wooden spoons, tool handles,and broomsticks. Witches on Walpurgis Night were said to have riddenon broomsticks made of birch. Native Americans used the water-resistantbirch bark for their canoes and wigwams.
To the people of northern Europe, the birch was a sacred tree. Inthe Kalevala, a Finnish epic, the birch is designated as a holy treeof great use to mankind. The Germanic peoples dedicated it to theirgod of thunder, Thor. |
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