Southern Prickly Ash or Hercules Club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) harvest ~ at Sweet Gum Springs Apothecary we use the inner bark (which is common practice for most bark-based medicines). The catch with Prickly Ash is that this lovely herbal ally has *thorns* (hence the name). The young branches (which are preferable to harvest, of course) have spikier thorns that draw blood in a blink while the more mature trunks and branches of this tree have something that look more like stegosaurus scales. Its an excellent immuno-stimulant, kicking the adaptive immune system into high gear for when it is needed (to fight infection and pathogenic bacteria, or to increase scavenging activity in the blood to clean up waste products)... Its also excellent in increasing peripheral circulation, and is warming in nature. It has a knack for certain forms of gut dysbiosis. Another common name for this tree is toothache tree, for its traditional use for those suffering from dental infection or tooth-pain of some kind. Its slight numbing affect on the mouth due to its characteristic tingling taste, is a signature of this plant. We use prickly ash in our Belly Beast & Yeast Tincture and in our ImmunoBooster Tincture. Its an otherwordly looking tree...on of my favorite to work with and be with ~ alongside Eastern Red Cedar
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 01:20:04 +0000
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