Medicinal Monday - The Healing Power of Slippery Elm

Slippery Elm is a tree whose bark has been used for centuries by Native American communities to relieve and heal a number of ailments from soothing sore throats to expelling tapeworms. The name refers to the texture of the inner bark, especially when moistened. Today, slippery elm can be found as an additive to herbal teas and in several brands of natural throat lozenges.

About the Slippery Elm Tree
The Slippery elm is a species of elm that is native to eastern North America. The tree ranges from Florida through New England including Connecticut and up to southern Quebec and west to Texas. The slippery elm tree looks like the American Elm. Scientifically, the slippery elm has a closer relationship to the European wych elm because the flowers of both trees resemble one another.  The slippery elm can grow up to 62 feet high, with the tallest documented at over 100 feet. The downy chestnut-brown twigs, slimy bark, and reddish buds that are hairy distinguish the slippery elm from the American elm. In the spring the tree produces flowers that produce a reddish-brown fruit with a central seed. The broad oblong leaves are tinged with red when they first emerge then turn dark green in the summer, and then yellow in the fall.

Medicinal Uses
A sticky substance known as mucilage is produced when the bark is mixed with water.  This substance is known to be soothing to anything it touches.  A salve is made by many Native American communities to heal wounds, boils, burns, and skin inflammation. It is also used to relieve sore throats, coughs and stomach problems.

The slimy red inner bark of this tree is peeled from twigs and branches. Its' coating slick gel and antioxidant properties have many benefits.  The Mohegan, Cherokee, Iroquois, and Potawatomi use the bark for coughs and chew the inner bark to sooth lungs. The Ojibwa make an infusion of the roots and make a wash to treat bleeding foot cuts, they also use the inner bark to treat sore throats. A decoction of the bark is made by various Native American communities including the Cherokee, Dakota, Iroquois, Menominee, Omaha, Pawnee, Ponca, and Winnebago as a laxative and to soothe the stomach. A poultice of bark is made and applied to sores and wounds by the Meskwaki, Cherokee, Menominee, and the Micmac. The Potawatomi, Cherokee, and Iroquois, make an infusion of the bark and use it to treat sore eyes. The Creek use a decoction of the bark with gun powder to speed the delivery of good magic. 

Did You Know...

The Slippery Elm is less susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease than the American Elm.

The Slippery Elm is also known as red elm, gray elm, soft elm, moose elm, and Indian elm.

The U.S. National Champion Slippy Elm grows in Louisville, Kentucky.  Closer to home, another tall specimen grows in the Bronx, New York City at 710 West 246th Street measuring 102 feet.

American soldiers during the Revolutionary War used slippery elm to heal gunshot wounds.

The de-barking of slippery elm in the eastern United States for medicine was commonplace in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry H. Gibson wrote in American Forest Trees (1913): 

“The inner bark has long been used for medicinal purposes. It is now ground fine and is kept for sale in drug stores, but formerly it was a household remedy which most families in the country provided and kept in store along with catnip, mandrake, sage, dogwood blossoms, and other rural remedies which were depended upon to rout diseases in the days when physicians were few…. The supply is rapidly decreasing. The cut for lumber is the chief drain, but a not inconsiderable one is the peeling of trees for bark. This goes on all over the species’ range and much of it is done by boys with knives and hatchets. It is often hard to find slippery elms within miles of a town because all have succumbed to bark hunters.” (page 391-2)