Last year I remember seeing the small, shriveled-up fruits of an unidentified shrub and wondered if they were good for anything. Probably not, I told myself. Not enough fruit there to do anything with. Recently, however, I was able to identify this plant and discovered that it has many uses.

Identification
Common prickly ash is easy to identify because of its small, shriveled-looking berries. The tree is one of two members of the Rue (sometimes called Citrus) family in Michigan. The berries have a lemon-lime-orange smell to them, and the branches have small thorns. The tree is small; only 5' - 15' tall. The leaves are are 2" long with smooth edges and, like the berries, have a citrus-y smell when crushed.

You can find the Prickly Ash tree throughout Michigan in a variety of soils, but they are often found where I found mine- along forest edges and fence rows.

Medicinal Use
Prickly Ash is often referred to as "toothache tree", because it contains a citrus-smelling oil called zanthoxylin, which causes numbness in the mouth. You can chew on either the fruit or the yellowish inner bark. When I was younger I would often get canker sores and use numbing gel to make talking or eating less painful. Believe me, this Prickly Ash works even better! The numbness took at least a 45 minutes to completely wear off, though at first it induces salivation (drooling) so that is somewhat annoying.

Other popular uses of Prickly Ash are to improve circulation problems like intermittent claudication, rheumatism, arthritis, and aging- or cold-related problems. The Native Americans were especially fond of this herb and used it for achy joints and sore muscles. They made teas and infusions both to drink and to bathe with.

Prickly Ash is generally considered safe to use, even for children and women who are pregnant. 

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White, Linda B. The Herbal Drugstore. United States of America: Rodale Inc., 2000. Print.
Tekiela, Stan. Trees of Michigan Field Guide. Cambridge, Minnesota: Adventure Publications, Inc., 2002. Print.
Richard Whelan ~ Medical Herbalist ~ Prickly Ash. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2015.

Today we're going to talk about a common wildflower that has many uses in herbal medicine. Not to mention that it smells wonderful!

Identification
Yarrow is a common wildflower in the Aster family. It grows to be 1'-3' tall with 2-4" wide clusters of small, white flowers with yellowish centers. The leaves are easy to identify; small, narrow and fern-like feathery. They have a strong smell, are larger at the bottom and progressively smaller at the top. The flowers bloom in summer and fall, and can be found in dry, sunny areas- deciduous woods, fields and prairies. They are found throughout Michigan. Yarrow is native to North America.

Yarrow leaves and flowers can be gathered while in bloom, dried and stored for year-round use. It can also be made into a tincture and used in herbal oils and salves.

Medicinal Use
Many cultures have used yarrow as a medicinal herb. There is a legend that Achilles used the plant to heal bleeding wounds during the Trojan War. In modern times, herbalists still use yarrow to stop bleeding and help resolve colds & flu, endometriosis, heard desease, hives, menstrual problems, pinkeye and sties. More than 40 active ingredients have been isolated in yarrow. The plant possesses anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and sweat-inducing properties.  It can reduce inflammation, relax cramps, and arrest excessive bleeding, dilate arteries and help lower cholesterol. It is considered a blood vessel tonic, improving arterial health in general. In Germany, yarrow is approved as a treatment for menstrual cramps. Crushed leaves can be applied to wounds to stop bleeding and heal cuts. Fresh leaves can also be chewed to relieve toothaches. Sties and pinkeye can be relieved with a eyewash or compress made from yarrow tea.

Caution: Yarrow should not be used internally during pregnancy or attempts to become pregnant. Don't confuse yarrow with fool's parsley or or poison hemlock. These species have similar leaves and flowers, but their leaves are more broad and lacy. Be sure to take all specifications (color, height, smell, leaf placement) into consideration when you are first learning to identify a plant- don't just look at the flower or the leaves.
 
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White, Linda B. The Herbal Drugstore. United States of America: Rodale Inc., 2000. Print.
Tekiela, Stan. Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide. Cambridge, Minnesota: Adventure Publications, Inc., 2000. Print.
Brown, Tom Jr. Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival. New York: Berkley Books, 1983. Print.

Here we are, still in the midst of maple sap season and it is a great time to be collecting tree bark for medicinal use! Wild Cherry bark is an expectorant (helps you cough up phlegm during a cold) which makes it great for using in cough syrups, teas, and other herbal preparations.

The hardest part to harvesting wild cherry bark is finding a tree. It's hard to identify trees in the winter, so if you don't know where one is, wait until summer and keep your eyes peeled. Chokecherry trees are similar to wild cherry, but wild cherry is a big large tree and chokecherries are more akin to shrubs. I found several large wild cherry trees last summer and noted the location so I could find them in early spring/late winter.

If you think you've found a wild cherry but aren't sure, break off a live twig (one that stretches and peels; a branch that snaps off is dead) and sniff it. It will smell like cherry. My tree smelled like cherry with a hint of tomato.

Pick a young branch or two and cut off with pruning shears. Bring them in the house.

After you've come inside, you can cut off the budded ends of the branches. I put my ends in a vase with some sugar water. Maybe they'll grow some leaves or flowers for me!

Using a knife (I used a sharp paring knife), scrape off the very outer layer of bark to expose the bright green bark underneath. This is the medicinal part that you want. If it's not green, go back to the tree and try again.

Scrape off the green bark with your knife. 

You can use the green bark fresh, or you can use it dried (but DON'T get it too hot!). I am going to dry mine and use it in a cough wine. Wine or tincture is a great way to use this herb because heat destroys the medicinal qualities.

Happy bark-scraping!

-Bethany