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!

Strawberry Bush

Scientific Names

Strawberry Bush

  • Euonymus americanus L.
  • E. American euonymus
  • Staff-tree family

Common Names

  • Strawberry

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Parts Usually Used

Stem and root bark, seeds
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

This herb is not the garden strawberry. It is a bush 3-6 ft tall with flowers that are greenish-purple. Erect or straggling, deciduous or nearly evergreen shrub. Stalks are green, 4-angled. Leaves rather thick, lustrous, sessile; tips sharp-pointed. Flowers greenish purple; petals stalked. Flowers in May to June. Fruits scarlet, warty. Do not look like garden strawberry fruit.

Strawberry bush (Euonymus americanus) is a related plant to wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus). Medicinally strawberry bush is equivalent to wahoo.
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Where Found

Rich woods. Southeastern New York, Pennsylvania to Florida; Texas, Oklahoma to Illinois.
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Uses

Native Americans used root tea for uterine prolapse, vomiting of blood, stomachaches, painful urination, wash for swellings. Bark formerly used by physicians as tonic, laxative, diuretic, and expectorant. Tea used for malaria, indigestion, liver congestion, constipation, lung afflictions. Powdered bark applied to the scalp was thought to eliminate dandruff. Seeds are strongly laxative.
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Warning

Fruit, seeds, and bark may be poisonous. Do not ingest. Fruits may cause vomiting, diarrhea, and unconsciousness.
Do not use without medical supervision.
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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! Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

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

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

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