Black Cherry

Contents:

Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Legends, Myths and Stories | Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Nutrient Content | How Sold | Warning | Resource Links | Bibliography

Scientific Names

• Prunus serotina L.
• Rosaceae
• Rose family

Common Names

• Ajamoda (Sanskrit name)
• Black cherry
• Black choke
• Caban cherry
• Choke cherry
• Padmaka (Sanskrit name)
• Rub cherry
• Rum cherry
• Virginia prune
• Wild cherry

Back to Top

---

Parts Usually Used

Dried inner bark. (Leaves and seeds are poisonous)
Back to Top

---

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

A deciduous tree that grows 40-90 feet tall. The bark is rough, dark gray fissured to expose inner reddish bark beneath. The leaves are oval to lance-shaped, blunt-toothed margins; smooth above, pale beneath, with whitish brown hairs on the prominent midrib. The flowers are in dense drooping slender racemes or spikes, blooms April to June. Fruits are strings of small, juicy cherries, dark red turning black, at times nearly black cherries.

Best known for its highly valued and beautiful wood.
Back to Top

---

Where Found

Dry woods. Nova Scotia to Florida; Texas to North Dakota; Minnesota.

The cherry tree is a native of Asia and was brought to Italy in the first century BC.
Back to Top

---

Medicinal Properties

Alterative, astringent, sedative, anti-tussive, digestive, expectorant, carminative, antispasmodic, diuretic
Back to Top

---

Legends, Myths and Stories

Wild Cherry bark is an aromatic bitter, popular both in the form of a decoction or steeped in whiskey, brandy or wine. As an infusion, the bark should NOT be boiled, as it destroys much of the virtues.
Back to Top

---

Uses

Aromatic inner bark traditionally used in tea or syrup for coughs, “blood tonic”, fevers, colds, flu, laryngitis, cough, whooping cough, bronchial spasms, bronchitis, sore throats, asthma, high blood pressure, colic, edema, arthritis, diarrhea, lung ailments, eye inflammation, swollen lymph glands, tuberculosis, pneumonia, inflammatory fever diseases, and dyspepsia. Useful for general debility with persistent cough, poor circulation, lack of appetite, mild sedative, and expectorant. Fruits used as “poor man’s” cherry substitute.
Back to Top

---

Formulas or Dosages

Infusion: steep 1 oz. of the bark in 1 pint of water. Allow to stand over night. Add honey, if desired. Dose: 1/2 wineglassful 3 times a day.
Back to Top

---

Nutrient Content

Vitamin C
Back to Top

---

How Sold

Supermarket (fruits)
Back to Top

---

Warning

Bark, leaves, and seeds contain a cyanide-like glycoside, puransin, which converts (when digested) to the Highly Toxic hydrocyanic acid. Toxins are most abundant in bark harvested in the fall.

Should be used only under medical supervision.
Back to Top

---

Resource Links

PubMed.gov: Fruits and vegetables protect against the genotoxicity of heterocyclic aromatic amines activated by human xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes expressed in immortal mammalian cells.

PubMed.gov: Efficacy of tart cherry juice in reducing muscle pain during running: a randomized controlled trial

PubMed.gov: Effects of a tart cherry juice beverage on the sleep of older adults with insomnia: a pilot study.

PubMed.gov: Tart cherry juice decreases oxidative stress in healthy older men and women.

Back to Top

Bibliography

Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss; Back to Eden Publishing Co., Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994

The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973

The Herbalist Almanac, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994

Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants, by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, Crescent Books (January 27, 1992).

Old Ways Rediscovered, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988

The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine, by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988.

How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts, by Frances Densmore, Dover Publications, Inc., 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974

American Folk Medicine, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973

Back to Top