Magnolia acuminata, Magnolia virginiana (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Magnoliaceae
Synonyms: CucumberTree. Magnoliae cortex. Blue Magnolia. Swamp
Sassafras. Magnolia Tripetata.
Part Used: Bark of stem and root.
Habitat: North America.
Description
| Constituents
| Medicinal Action
and Uses
Dosage
| Other Species
¶ Description.
The genus is named in commemoration of
Pierre Magnol, a famous professor of medicine and botany of Montpellier in the
early eighteenth century. All its members are handsome, with luxuriant foliage
and rich flowers. The leaves of Magnolia acuminata are oval, about 6
inches long by 3 broad, and slightly hairy below, with a diameter of 6 inches,
and the fruit or cone, about 3 inches long, resembles a small cucumber.
It is a large tree, reaching a height of 80 or more feet and a diameter of 3
to 5 feet, but only grows to about 16 feet in England. The wood is finely
grained, taking a brilliant polish, and in its colour resembles that of the
tulip or poplar, but it is less durable. It is sometimes used for large canoes
and house interiors.
The bark of the young wood is curved or quilled, fissured outside, with
occasional warts, and orange-brown in colour, being whitish and smooth within
and the fracture short except for inner fibres. The older bark without the corky
layer is brownish or whitish and fibrous. Drying and age cause the loss of its
volatile, aromatic property.
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¶ Constituents. The bark has no astringency. The
tonic properties are found in varying degree in several species.
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¶Medicinal Action and
Uses. A mild diaphoretic,
tonic, and aromatic stimulant. It is used in rheumatism and malaria and is
contra-indicated in inflammatory symptoms. In the Alleghany districts the cones
are steeped in spirits to make a tonic tincture.
A warm infusion is laxative and sudorific, a cold one being antiperiodic and
mildly tonic.
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¶ Dosage. Fluid Extract. Frequent doses of 1/2 to
1 drachm, or the infusion in wineglassful doses.
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¶ Other Species.
Both M. virginiana and M. tripetala were recognized as official
with M. acuminata.
M. virginiana, or M. glauca, White Laurel, Beaver Tree, Swamp
Sassafras, White Bay, Sweet Bay, Small or Laurel Magnolia, or Sweet Magnolia, is
much used by beavers, who favour it both as food and building material. The
light wood has no commercial use.
The bark and seed cones are bitter and aromatic, used as tonics, and in
similar ways to M. acuminata. The leaves yield a green, volatile oil with
a more pleasant odour than fennel or anise. There is probably also a bitter
glucosidal principle.
M. tripetala, Umbrella Tree or Umbrella Magnolia. The fruit yields a
neutral crystalline principle, Magnolin.
The bark, if chewed as a substitute for tobacco, is said to cure the habit.
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Reprinted from "A
Modern Herbal" (1931)
Mrs. M. Grieve, Edited by Mrs. C.F. Leyel
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