Wafer ash

Weak, atonic digestion with loss of appetite and low vitality after acute illness, calling for a clean, non-astringent bitter

Sluggish, torpid digestion with a coated tongue and dull, unenthusiastic appetite, unresponsive to milder bitters

Asthmatic dyspnea; chronic diseases with constriction of chest and short breathing.

Overview. Ptelea trifoliata, commonly called hop tree or wafer ash, is a small tree or tall shrub native to eastern and central North America, in the same family as prickly ash and citrus. It bears distinctive winged, wafer-like fruits, from which its common names derive, and its root bark was the part valued in nineteenth century Eclectic medicine. Eclectic physicians prized it as a clean, intensely bitter tonic, sometimes described as a mild substitute for quinine-based bitters in weak, convalescent patients. The dried fruit has historically been used in home brewing as a hop substitute, giving rise to the name hop tree.

Clinical Notes. Hop tree root bark was reached for by Eclectic practitioners as a gentle, non-astringent bitter tonic for patients whose digestion had become weak and appetite poor, particularly during convalescence from fevers or prolonged illness.

Action and Therapy. Ptelea is regarded by some as second only to hydrastis as a tonic. It acts as a sedative to irritated membranes, and is said to be tolerated by the stomach when other tonics might aggravate. The field in which it has been mostly used is in convalescence from fevers, debility resulting from gastro-intestinal irritation, and in asthmatic seizures accompanied by a sense of constriction in the thorax.

Therapy. The agent is a mild tonic, exercising a direct influence upon the stomach and digestive apparatus, correcting certain faults of gastric secretion, overcoming dyspepsia and improving the appetite. It may be given to good advantage with other stomachic tonics and iron. It corrects atonic diarrhea and is of benefit in dysentery, its pungent properties and sufficient astringency renders it of benefit in mild cases. In full doses it acts upon the skin as a diaphoretic. It has been given in lung troubles, but we have other active remedies which produce more gratifying results.