The Medicinal Herb Info site was created to help educate visitors about the often forgotten wisdom of the old ways of treating illnesses. Many of today's drugs and medicines were originally derived from natural ingredients, combinations of plants and other items found in nature.

We are not suggesting that you ignore the help of trained medical professionals, simply that you have additional options available for treating illnesses. Often the most effective treatment involves a responsible blend of both modern and traditional treatments.

We wish you peace and health!

Magnolia

Scientific Names

Magnolia

  • Magnolia glauca L.
  • Magnoliaceae
  • Magnolia family

Common Names

  • Beaver tree
  • Holly bay
  • Indian bark
  • Red bay
  • Red Laurel
  • Swamp laurel
  • Swamp sassafras
  • Sweet bay
  • Sweet magnolia
  • White bay

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Parts Usually Used

Bark
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Description of Plant(s) and
Culture

Magnolia is an evergreen tree; it has smooth, ash-colored bark and soft, leathery leaves which are alternate, elliptical, glossy bright green on op, and pale underneath. The large, distinctive flowers are cream-colored and appear from May to August.

Other varieties: Cucumber Magnolia (M. acuminata); Sweetbay (M. virginiana); (M. tripetata); (M. lilifora); (M. conspicua) known to the Chinese as Hsin-i; and (M.officinalis).
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Where Found

Found in the Atlantic and Gulf coast states.
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Medicinal Properties

Astringent, diaphoretic, febrifuge, stimulant, tonic, aromatic, antiperiodic
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Uses

Magnolia bark is good for dyspepsia, heart trouble, high blood pressure, dysentery, diarrhea, intermittent fever, rheumatism, erysipelas, and other skin diseases. It can be made into a douche for leukorrhea. Some people have been cured of the tobacco habit by drinking magnolia bark tea. Magnolia bark can be substituted for Peruvian bark, as a safer remedy. It can do the work of quinine with no after effects. This herb can be taken for long periods without any ill effects.
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Formulas or Dosages

Gather the bark in spring and summer.

Decoction: use 1 tsp. bark with 1 cup water. Take 1 cup a day.

For external use, simmer 1 tbsp. bark in 1 pint water for 10 minutes.
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Bibliography

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

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

Buy It! Chinese Medicinal Herbs, compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973.

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

Herbal Gardening, compiled by The Robison York State Herb Garden, Cornell Plantations, Matthaei Botanical Gardens of the University of Michigan, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley., Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition

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

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

Buy It! Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Buy It! Secrets of the Chinese Herbalists, by Richard Lucas, Parker Publishing Company, Inc., West Nyack, NY, 1987.

Buy It! Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023

Buy It! The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book), edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974

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