Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties | Biochemical Information
Legends, Myths and Stories | Uses | Formulas or Dosages | How Sold | Warning | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Hydrangea arborescens L.
- Saxifragaceae
- Saxifrage family
Common Names
- Seven barks
- Wild hydrangea
Parts Usually Used
Root, leaves
Back to Top
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Hydrangea is a native North American shrub; the stems, growing from 3-10 feet high, are covered with thin layers of different-colored bark. The opposite, ovate, serrate leaves have hairy veins on the underside when mature. Rounded or globular clusters of small, creamy-white flowers appear during June and July. The flowerheads are surrounded by sterile, papery, flower-like structures that attract bees and other pollinators to the tiny, inconspicuous fertile blooms.
Back to Top
Where Found
Grows on dry slopes, in shady woods, and on streambanks from New York to Iowa, northern Florida, Oklahoma to Indiana, Ohio, and Louisiana.
Back to Top
Medicinal Properties
Antilithis, diuretic
Back to Top
Biochemical Information
Two resins, gum, starch, sugar, albumen, soda, lime potassa, magnesia, sulphuric and phosphoric acids, a protosalt of iron and a glucoside, hydrangin
Back to Top
Legends, Myths and Stories
The name “Seven Barks” is applied to the hydrangea due to the seven separate layers of different colored bark. There are 23 species of H. arborenscens, or wild hydrangea. The flowers are colored, depending on the acidity or alkalinity of the soil, mostly white, often tinged with pink, blue, or purple, and in a few are entirely colored.
The root bark was formerly marketed under the name “Gravel Root”, referring to its use for kidney stones.
Making hydrangeas blue: Hydrangeas are often made to produce blue flowers by adding aluminum sulphate to the soil at the rate of 1/2 lb. to 5 gallons of water at weekly intervals. After 2 or 3 applications, it also seems to help to apply 4 oz. of ferrous sulphate per 5 gallons off water for a few weeks. This treatment is continued as long as it seems necessary to make and keep the soil acid.
Making hydrangeas pink: Hydrangeas are often made to produce various shades of pink flowers if they are not grown in acid soil. A neutral or slightly alkaline soil will give the results desired. Add sufficient lime to bring the pH of the soil to a figure somewhat between 6.7 and 7.2. The addition of the lime is best affected by lifting the hydrangea in fall, shaking the roots free of as much soil as is safely possible and then mixing the lime thoroughly with the soil before planting again. To be certain of the amount of lime needed to bring the soil to the required pH figure, have the soil tested.
Back to Top
Uses
The root has long been used as a mild diuretic. It has a reputation for helping to prevent and remove gravel, gallbladder stones, and kidney stones. Will relieve chronic rheumatism, backache, paralysis, scurvy, and dropsy. Homeopathically, for bronchitis, treats diabetes, incontinence of urine, and prostatic affections. The Cherokee Indians used this herb for urinary retention and stones. Also excellent for chronic penile discharge (non-specific urethritis) in men and mucousal irritation in the aged. This herb acts differently in different people. In some it acts like a laxative. Therefore, it is better to start with a smaller dose and increase slowly as needed. The average dose is 2 capsules a day.
Externally, scraped bark is poulticed on wounds, burns, sore muscles, sprains, tumors; the bark chewed for stomach problems, heart trouble.
Back to Top
Formulas or Dosages
Infusion: steep 1 tsp. root in 1 cup boiling water. Take 1 cup per day.
Tincture: a dose is from 5 to 20 drops.
Back to Top
How Sold
Capsules
Back to Top
Warning
Overdose can cause vertigo (dizziness) and stuffiness in the chest.
Experimentally, causes bloody diarrhea, painful gastroenteritis, cyanide-like poisoning.
Research has shown that this plant is potentially toxic.
Back to Top
Bibliography
Back to Eden
The Complete Medicinal Herbal
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants
The Herbalist Almanac
The Herb Book
Indian Herbalogy of North America
Planetary Herbology
Webster’s New World Dictionary
The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book)
