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BLACK
ALDER Ilex Verticillata
Common
Names: Winterberry. Fever
Bush. Striped Alder. White
Alder. Coralberry. Michigan
Holly. False Alder. Inkberry.
Black Alder Winterberry. Deciduous
Winterberry. Virginian Winterberry.
Brook Alder. Deciduous Holly.
Possumhaw. Swamp Holly.
Range:
Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario to
Michigan, south to Maryland, Virginia and
Indiana.
Habitat:
Swamps and wet woods. Usually found on
moist soils of floodplains, low woodlands, wet
thickets, and along streams. |
| Description:
This shrub is the most ornamental of
the American deciduous hollies. It grows from
6 to 1O feet in height, with thin, oval
leaves, white flowers and bright scarlet
berries the size of a large pea, causing it to
be very conspicuous in the autumn, when the
surrounding vegetation is leafless. |
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The bark is found in
thin fragments, the outer surface brownish, with whitish
patches and black dots and lines, the cork layer easily
separating from the pale-greenish or yellowish white inner
tissue. The fracture is short, the odor almost
imperceptible, and the taste bitter and slightly
astringent. |
The bark contains about 4-8
per cent tannin, two resins, one soluble and the other insoluble
in alcohol, albumen, gum, and sugar. The fresh bark and fruit are
gathered before the first autumnal frost. FFind
more photos from the University
of Connecticut Plant Database
Part
Used: The fresh bark and fruit. |
Medicine:
Winterberry is widely used by native peoples of North America for its
astringent properties. Black Alder's medicinal properties include
acting as a tonic, reducing fevers (febrifuge) and as an astringent,
useful for tightening tissue and reducing secretions. The decoction of the
bark is prepared by boiling 2 ounces of bark in 3 pints of water down to 2
pints, this being given internally in diarrhea and malarial disorders, and
externally in indolent sores and chronic skin disease. The berries should
not be used as a substitute for the bark. In intermittent fever it can be
used like Peruvian Bark, and is valuable in jaundice, gangrenous
affections, dropsy, and when the body is devitalized by discharges. The
bark is well known as an ingredient in several alternative syrups.
Barton, mentioning black alder under
the names of Virginia winterberry, reported that the bark was
astringent, bitter and pungent; that the berries were bitter: that it was
long a popular remedy, ordinarily employed as a decoction in intermittent
fevers, dropsy, and gangrene, in the last of which it had "great
efficacy." It was also given internally, and externally as a wash.
Wildlife: Black
Alder fruits are consumed by small mammals, songbirds and game birds,
including eastern bluebirds, wild turkeys, and quail. They are also eaten
by white-tailed deer. White-tailed deer and cattle browse both leaves and
twigs.
Some History:
"The inkberry grew as a rule here in the woods in level and
somewhat low-lying places. The branches are now full of red berries
which I tasted and found rather bitter. A man who accompanied me told me
the same; he called the shrub 'bois de marque', but did not know any use
for it." 1749 Kalm; Quebec; October the
14th. 563
"The Fever Bush grows about five
or six feet high; it leaf is like that of the lilac, and it bears a
reddish berry of spicy flavor. The stalks of it are exceedingly
brittle. A decoction of the buds or wood is an excellent febrifuge,
and from this valuable property it received its name. It is an
ancient Indian remedy for all inflammatory complaints, and likewise much
esteemed on the same account by the inhabitants of the interior parts of
the colonies." 1778 Carver 510.
"The Black alder has had a
considerable reputation as a tonic medicine, perhaps more than it
deserves. The late Professor Barton tells us, that the bark has long
been a popular remedy in different parts of the United States, being used
in intermittent fevers and some other diseases as a substitute for the
Peruvian bark [quinine]; and on some occasions, he thinks it more useful
than that article...'It is supposed to be especially useful in cases of
great debility accompanied by fever...and as a tonic in cases of incipient
gangrene. In the last case...it is unquestionably a medicine of
great efficacy. It is given both internally and employed externally
as a wash.' Dr. Thatcher recommends a decoction or infusion of the
bark taken internally in doses of a teacupful, and employed also as a
wash, for the cure of cutaneous eruptions, particularly of the herpetic
kind." 1817-20 Bigelow 144-5
"Prinos, black alder, Fever bush,
winterberry...Inner bark emetic, cathartic, tonic antiseptic. Used
in agues, fevers...herpatic eruptions, gangrene, jaundice, foul ulcers
& c. in powder, decoction and tincture, a wash or poultice.
Berries purgative and vermifuge...Bitters made with them. Popular
remedies." 1830 Rafinesque 253.
"Black Alder (Prinos
Verticillatus). Known also as the Winterberry...The bark, both of
the stalk and root, is the part used as medicine...by some Botanic
physicians has been highly recommended in liver complaint, jaundice,
diarrhea, intermittent fevers, and a debilitated state of the system...A
strong decoction of the Black Alder bark is an excellent application to
foul and gangrenous ulcers, and when thickened with a little powdered elm
bark, is a good poultice in such cases...The dose of the decoction...is
about a wineglassful three or four times a day." 1859-61
Gunn 746.
The Black Alder...is another of the
growing list of plants handed down to us by the aborigines, who used the
bark internally and externally as a tonic, astringent, and antiseptic, and
is probably as well known to domestic practice as any indigenous shrub.
The berries are purgative and vermifuge, forming one of the
pleasantest adjuvants in children's remedies, for the expulsion of
lumbrici [worms]. Schoepf first noted the plant as having the above
field of utility and also mentioned its usefulness in anascarca. 1892
Millspaugh 106.
"The birds avail themselves of
the berries when better fare is denied them by the snow, and it is
credited with giving its peculiarly unpleasant flavor to the flesh of
grouse in December." 1905 Muldrew Muskoka Ont.
42.
"A decoction of the bark of the
root and stalk successfully used in jaundice, liver and intermittent
fever." 1925 Wood & Ruddock
"The bark of this native holly is
medicine among the Flambeau Ojibwe, but the use could not be discovered,
other than that it might be used for diarrhea." 1932
H. Smith Ojibwe 355
"The Iroquois...use the bark as
an astringent, tonic, and antiseptic. The leaves as a tea
substitute." 1970 Bye mss.
Dose:
For indigestion, 2 teaspoons of the powdered bark, and 1 teaspoon of
powdered Golden Seal infused in a pint of boiling water, taken, when cold,
in the course of one day in wine-glassful doses, will be found very
helpful. Of the decoction, 2 to 3 fluid ounces. Of the powdered
bark, 1/2 to 1 teaspoons.
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