Black alder

Chronic, indolent skin eruptions in a patient with relaxed, weak tissue tone and poor healing

Foul, gangrenous or unhealthy ulcers calling for a strong astringent wash rather than an internal remedy alone

Overview. Ilex verticillata, long known to older American practitioners under the name Prinos verticillatus, is a deciduous holly of eastern North American swamps and wet woodlands, easily recognized in winter by its bright red berries held on bare branches. The bark of the root and stem is the part gathered for medicine. Physiomedicalist and Eclectic physicians of the nineteenth century regarded it as one of the more dependable bitter astringent tonics for chronic, atonic skin conditions and debilitated states, and it was widely confused in the popular mind with the true alders (Alnus species) because of the shared common name.

Clinical Notes. Black alder bark was reached for when the tissues looked weak, relaxed, and slow to heal rather than hot or inflamed, in keeping with the physiomedical habit of reading tone before reaching for a remedy.

Action and Therapy. Black alder is tonic, astringent and alterative, and especially effective as the latter. Many alterative syrups contain black alder. The berries are cathartic and vermifuge. Tincture of black alder and specific medicine hydrastis form an excellent tonic in atonic dyspepsia, when debility is marked and there is a tendency to diarrhea.

Properties and Uses. The bark is stimulating and relaxing, mild in action, and chiefly influencing the secernent organs. It is properly a tonic alterant of a mild grade; and though by some classed as an astringent, it is rather laxative, though leaving behind that slightly consolidated condition common to stimulating tonics.