Release date is 2025-11-28

Introduction -- The collection of barks -- Trees and shrubs furnishing medicinal barks: White pine (Pinus strobus). Tamarack (Larix laricina). Aspen (Populus tremuloides). White willow (Salix alba). Bayberry (Myrica cerifera). Butternut (Juglans cinerea). Ironwood (Ostrya virginiana). Sweet birch (Betula lenta). Tag-alder (Alnus rugosa). White oak (Quercus alba). Slippery elm (Ulmus pubescens). Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata, M. tripetala, and M. glauca). Tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Sassafras (Sassafras sassafras). Spicebush (Benzoin benzoin). Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Blackberry (Rubus villosus, R. nigrobaccus, and R. cuneifolius). American mountain-ash (Sorbus americana). Wild cherry (Prunus serotina). Prickly ash (Xanthoxylum americanum and X. clava-herculis). Wafer-ash (Ptelea trifoliata). Black alder (Ilex verticillata). Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus). False bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). Cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana). Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Dogwood (Cornus florida). Moosewood (Dirca palustris). White ash (Fraxinus americana). Fringe-tree (Chionanthus virginica). Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara). Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). Cramp-bark tree (Viburnum opulus). Black haw (Viburnum prunifolium).

Hendrik Kaiber and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

"American medicinal barks" by Alice Henkel is a scientific bulletin written in the early 20th century. It surveys the barks of North American trees and shrubs used in medicine, providing identification, collection and preparation methods, trade considerations, pharmacopoeial status, and customary uses. Intended as a practical guide and reference, it couples botanical detail with market-oriented advice and cautions about sustainable harvesting.

The opening of the bulletin sets the official context (a U.S. Department of Agriculture publication), states the scope (35 drugs, covering both “official” and “nonofficial” barks), and explains its purpose as a guide rather than a prescriptive medical text. It warns that indiscriminate bark stripping harms forests and urges careful methods and replanting, then outlines best practices for harvesting (chiefly spring or late fall), rossing and peeling, drying and packing, and consulting dealers because prices fluctuate. The text then begins a series of concise species profiles that combine habitat and range, diagnostic features, the look and feel of the commercial bark, collection timing, typical market prices, and principal medicinal actions. Early entries span a wide range—from white pine, tamarack, aspen, and willow to sassafras, witch-hazel, wild cherry, prickly ash, wahoo, horse-chestnut, and cascara sagrada—with cotton introduced next. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Washington: Government printing office, 1909