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Notes (date):
Date supplied by cataloger.
Notes (historical):
M-20 This Quercus alba (white oak) was growing on the Northern slope of the Homeopathic Hospital in Jamaica Plain. The white oak is the primary North American species of oak used medicinally, although it is uncertain if this is why the tree was planted on the grounds of the Homeopathic Hospital (Julie Bruton and Matthew Seal, Backyard Medicine [Skyhorse, 2009], 121). The white oak has many homeopathic medicinal properties, since two of the main ingredients in oak bark are quercin and tannin. Quercin is similar to salicin, which is in turn, similar to aspirin and found in willow trees. Both quercin and salicin are natural pain-killers and anti-inflammatory medicines. The bark of the white oak is prized for its astringent and antiseptic properties and is used to stop internal bleeding, and to lower fever. It is also used as an expectorant, and has anti-emetic, anti-diarrheal, and anti-venomous properties. It is used for mouth sores and conditions like gingivitis and thrush, which involve turning the bark into tea or toothpaste (Charlotte Erichson Brown, Medicinal and Other Uses of North American Plants [N.Y.: Dover, 2013], 65-70).
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