5 Medicinal Trees You Should Know! 

I poured a LOT into this one. I really hope that you enjoyed it! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what tree you would like to see covered next! Remember, the description contains a link to get the FULL set of winter tree profiles for all the trees covered in this video (plus more!)

I served Sassafras tea at a snack table, at a Steampunk convention. A man in his late 60's said that as a boy in Appalachia he loved Sassafras tea and would drink a gallon or more a day! So when he would have an injury or cut it took longer for the bleeding to stop. His mother had heard of 'free bleeders' (Hemophilia) and took him to the doctor. The doc knew exactly what was wrong. The sassafras tea was acting as a blood thinner. The doctor told him to cut back on the sassafras tea and the kid was just fine!

As a botanist and instructor, I greatly appreciate your simple, yet thorough descriptions of tree species for winter identification. Great work on this video. I will definitely be looking at your other resources. Well done!!😊

Learning Tree ID without using leaves is the best! Once you know the details of specific trees you can't unsee them.

Perfect example of how to do an educational video. Soothing voice and no music or rambling! Thank you.

From what I’ve learned from local herbalist in my state of Kentucky is that when you cook the black willow down to a thick paste it becomes more concentrated and thus works better on pain for the body. Also wild lettuce done the same way works as well for pain.

From my reading, an 8oz glass of Sassafras tea is no more carcinogenic than an average can of beer. My Grandpa drank it quite a bit growing up and he's 95.

When you said slippery elm was common in your area you got my attention. You see, I have studied up on its’ priority uses, and especially as an an additive to pemmican for taste and long term preservation. Centuries old pemmican has been discovered in Native American food caches. The recipe was adopted by early trappers and settlers and its popularity was so great, that many trees were destroyed by incorrect bark harvesting and thus became rare in some areas in a short time. Many other trees were poached by herb gatherers in the 70’s onward and it is now difficult to find true slippery elm bark from vendors. It was patented at one time by a pharmaceutical company as a preservative for medicinal ointments. I almost gave up on my search for it until I saw your video. I live in the southwest and it doesn’t grow here at all.I don’t usually comment about videos,let alone elaborate to this extent, but I’m dead serious about my enthusiasm for this tree and I’m hoping to collaborate with you in a renewed attempt to obtain some bark strips. I don’t need a lot. The ratio of strained,powdered bark is very small when added to the rendered fat used to make pemmican,and your harvesting method is what native tribes used to keep the trees alive. Anyhoo, I have subscribed and hopefully you can help me out now that I have explained. I am willing to pay well for your efforts in this regard and provide further info about the exact process of making pemmican, and the correct ingredients in the production. I hope to hear back soon while the subject is still hot.Thank you sir.. I hope I haven’t over-extended myself, but hey…

My family used to dig sassafras roots and make tea from them, but only in the early spring before they budded, if I remember correctly. I guess we didn't have enough of it overall to get a meaningful dose of any carcinogens in it. Either way, it was delicious as a brief seasonal "tonic" and none of us appear to have any cancers, thank God (knock on wood, of course). The leaves, pounded and dried, are what my mother called gumbo filet; it thickens gumbo nicely. Thanks for a really interesting video; I knew about cherry bark but didn't know it paired well with sweet gum. Years of reading and listening and experimenting, and there's still SO much more to learn!

Great video! I would recommend writing Sam Thayer about Sassafras and safrole. He gave a talk on this subject at a wild foods event a few years back. Lots of interesting points were raised, particularly that safrole is not water soluble and much of it vaporizes when boiled. The flavors present in the tea are due to many complex flavor molecules. The study from the 1960s usually cited involved chemically isolated safrole, not whole sassafras. Thanks again!

If you're harvesting bark you can buy or make Bonsai Paste it can be either clay based or wax based but is seals the wounds and stops weeping sap that can attract bugs and animals.

I literally stumbled across your video today. Really brought back some great memories for me. My father was from the south. He used to make sassafras tea twice a year. I loved the taste of it. But he didn't use the bark to make sassafras tea. He used these little roots. And I remember he used to get these roots in a brown paper bag each time we visited down south. Alot of people where he grew up dig up little feeder roots and use them to make the tea. We are talking smaller than a number 2 pencil, about 1/8" diameter. My father lived to be 87 years old, no cancer. He got a cold that turned into pneumonia. I have not tasted sassafras tea in over 15 years. One other thing that comes to mind on the trips was old fashioned sassafras hard rock candy. I loved it as a kid. Thanks for this video. Very informative and I subscribed. Keep up the great work.

No mention at all of sweet birch. I make it every winter. The tea is pink make from the one year old branches generally the diameter of toothpicks. If you like wintergreen youll love this

This is very exciting. I have black cherry trees and will go forage. The combo of cyanide and benzaldehyde is said to kill cancer cells. The world without cancer video by Edward Griffin talks about how it works. The drug laetril /amygdalin was that combo. It’s also why apricot seeds are said to be so so helpful in cancer treatment which means I won’t have to keep buying apricot seeds, I can just harvest the bark from the black cherry tree. 🙌

Awesome video with great information. A quick for you. I am a 52 year old woman and have drank warm and iced sassafras tea most of my life with no problems but the best tea is made with the root rather than the branches and you can cut and store the root for a few years prior to use with no problem. Im not saying you should go out and kill a bunch of sassafras trees but we collected it most often when placing fence rows where the tree had to be removed anyway. Small sapling roots are just as good as big.

As an herbalist I love this! Now here's a weird thing, I am allergic to aspirin and all over the counter pain relievers but not to white willow bark, which I make into a tincture for pain. I like that you gave the warning, I think I might just be an exception.

You should check out pine needle tea and chicory flower tea. I use them to open my airways and help get mucous out.

I literally live in a tropical wet country. Why am I so interested in watching this?

Man I mix sassafras with fresh ginger in my tea and it smells SO GOOD

Safrole also has another use as a precursor which has resulted in it being classified as a controlled chemical that is basically illegal to own as a purified substance.

Very grateful for all this information, especially on how not to kill or damage the trees. 👍

I asked the Lord to show me how to utilize the land I bought over 20 years ago, due to a dream I had. It has so many different types of trees, grasses and plants that I also get alot of wildlife. I was born on a farm, but raised in the city, but the Lord led me to this area, so I know provision abounds, I just need people like you that share their knowledge! Thank you.

Videos like this are priceless. Thank you so incredibly much for the work you did to put this together. I'm forever grateful 🙏🏻

I can see the amount of effort you put in to this informative video. Commenting and thumbs up for the algo!

thanks for adding full closed captions! looking forward to watching this :)

Great video with a ton of information. In my AO locals like to use sassafras root, especially the young saplings that pop up. Again thanks for this video.

Can't wait to look for these trees on my next woods walk!

Thanks for the information, especially about the sweet gum tree and its bark. 🙂

It's awesome what you're doing and it's not about perfection but if you're trying to get medicine out of bark or root (hard material) you need to cook low and slow for 1 - 2 hrs minimum. Add more water. Fill the pan then bring to a boil and simmer for a very long time. The material needs time to release the medicine.

This is the first video of yours I watched after YT randomly recommended your community post to me. Your presentation, easy explanations and comprehensive coverage of identification are really lovely and great to follow. Will definitely watch more, though just wish I could follow on more than just the black cherry as I don't have these trees in my country!

Fantastic info that more people should know, thanks for making videos like these!

Thanks for all the detailed information. Very helpful. I like how you show comparisons to identify. This is a wealth of information.

I'm nearly 70 and can remember drinking sassafras tea in my early teens. You could buy it in liquid form and I think it was called Pappy's

The beech tree would be a good one for you to do a video on. Thanks for the info great video.

Trees can also be very filling. Both the Finns and the Swedes ate trees during famines (though the nutritional tree flour from phloem was usually mixed with other flour).

Inner Elm bark has the same protein content of oats. Moose is Indian for Bark Eater. Cheers from Sunny 😎 Alberta!

This is very helpfull thx

You’re a great person for this man. Thank you so much this will make it a lot easier than snapping of twigs to come home and dig through books to identify. Love, peace & chicken grease from coastal Virginia!

This video is incredible thank you for compiling all this information!

Ive never been so excited to learn something new in my life. Thank you.

Love this! Thank you for sharing!

Really well done and super informative. Thank you as always!

Really enjoyed this excellent video! Thank you for sharing this information. My grandpa used to make sassafras tea and I love it. Once again, Thanks!!

So much important information. Thank you so much!

Thank you for all that information. Wow... You did put a lot into that. A lot of research for sure. You are awesome. I will be making a lot this winter for sure. And about the willow... Thank you for explaining that we need to find the black willow and not the willow I was thinking about. Your awesome.

Thank you for your hard work ❤

Great video. Looking forward to what's next. Pine and Poplar maybe?

So awesome! Thank you for sharing this video and explaining your research 🤙🏼

Great work 😮 it's an amazing introduction to the world of self médication ! I still recomand to triple check with various sources

First learn to listen with emotion and medicine must always be made with love and respect and compassion in your heart

Very good video. The woods are loaded with healing and nutritional trees and plants.

Thank You for , CC. AWESOME CHANNEL

Wonderful!! You're Amazing for doing this for us !! Thanks So much ! ❤

Excellent video ! Thank you for posting.

Excellent video. You earned a new subscriber.

Great video ! Thank you . Subscribed . I need to take notes .

This video answered my question on the black walnut video.

Very informative, a keeper for sure. Thanks

Thank you for your time and effort sir!

This is truly a great video! So much knowledge gets lost. I have subscribed and I added this to my library playlist called interesting by others so people can find you easier! Is the inner bark called the Cambian Layer?

So stoked I’ve found your channel! My 8yr old daughter and I are learning to identify different trees together, this channel is perfect! We’re in rural WV and have been looking for paw paws

Great video, thanks for the hard work!

Thanks for this. Great information

Excellent information, thank you for sharing!! Love the channel.

I feel like I went to college for a whole 6 weeks awesome job

Cool, identifiable, and informative ! Thank you !

Really well done. Full of useful content.

Thank you for the research and video! :)

Wonderful video! Thank you so much, I always love your videos, and you did great work on this one. I heard in Kent Hovind's The Bible and Health seminar that the combination of the cyanide with another compound in the seeds (aprocot seeds, etc) makes it (pretty much) harmless until it hits a cancer cell.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Great video 👏👏👏

My grand parents grew a patch of sassafras when I was growing up. It was used occasionally, once, maybe twice a year. The used the roots more so than the bark.

Sir you are a blessing. 🙏♥️

Good job, thanks for sharing your research.

❤❤❤❤awesome!!!!!!!😮😊thank you so much for teaching!!!!!!!

Great video! Winter tree ID is a weakness of mine and I've been trying to find slippery elm for a while. Your video should help. Another use I've heard for slippery elm was that it helps to preserve animal fats.

You should give tips for Midwest around great lakes(Northern Indiana) great job n tks

Thank you! I at least know my sweet gum and sassafras, but really need to examine the rest closer. So many look alike out here, and they're so tall I can't see the buds.

I just saw your channel for the first time, listened and of course subscribed. Could you possibly cover medicinal flora in east central Florida. Irregardless thanks for your hard work in bringing this to us.

To bad i have none of those in my area. 😢 We do have ceder. Used for cough, bronchitis, joint pain (rheumatism), water retention, and flatulence.

Slippery elm trees grew fast ty for letting me know what it was and how to use it

Wish you reviewed the poplar tree. (Balm of Gilard)

Just subbed, great video! I just started foraging and am very excited to learn more! As a colder climate dweller, identifying bark n buds is ideal as only about 1/4 of the year leaves are available 😂. Thank you!

Thank you, very informative

Very helpful video. I'm well versed on slippery elm and sweet gum. Not so familiar with the willow and sassafras as the latter is very hard to find. Great video

I use to buy sassafras tea in tea bags and also in a glass bottle of liquid sassafras ....i liked making tea with them. I liked the tea bags best.

Just subbed, liked, and commented. Greetings from west central Florida.

The hardened sap from the sweet gum also burns like pine sap.

I have used sassafras to make some nice shooting longbows. Made the tea many times.

Thank you that was very well done.

Sassafras, you wanna dig the roots up in the Spring time? I use the root for tea

Thanks for the vid!!!

I'd love to see a video from you on situations when it would be beneficial to remove trees! We are about to start working on a large property and building our homestead on it. Although I'm not oblivious to some reasons to remove trees, I also know that I don't know everything! Also I'm not an arborist! I love your videos and trust your information (because you make your sources clear and communicate really well)!

Well I live in the desert not many trees here. Prickly ash is another great tree. The natives called it tickle tongue tree or toothache tree.. great video thank you l.

I was camping out 1 time and forgot the coffee so I drank oak bark tea it didn't taste bad even though it has tannin in it.

EXCELLENT INFO. THANK YOU! ❤️☕🤔

Great video.

We use the car to pull the tree out by the roots, the whole tree was used , there was 7 kids in our family plus grandparents, parents you get the idea took care of our whole family, the roots was washed and use smaller kids had to debark every root. The the older kids had to chop the root itself up into small pieces .while the rest of the family chopped the tree up never hurt none of us, , I still get my sassafras bark and roots to boil and drink all year round, chew on branches in spring and summer months , love the leave they are so good .

Sasafrass trees are great! Fun fact: In addition to the bark, the leaves are dried and pounded into filé powder, which is vital for great Creole cooking. The leaves also make a lovely, mild tea. Also, the plant contains small amounts of dopamine antagonist chemicals, so it could possibly help to make you happy.

cool stuff , Thank You