What Are the Benefits of Fringe Tree Tincture?

The fringe tree is a deciduous tree or large shrub that reaches can grow to forty feet. It sprouts leaves in late spring and white blossoms in early summer. The Choctaw Native American Tribe used fringe tree bark as an herbal astringent to treat several conditions. Tribe members also boiled the bark and mashed it into a poultice to cleanse and heal wounds.

Definitions

• The fringe tree's scientific name is Chionanthus virginicus. It's also known as Graybeard, Old-Man's Beard, Poison Ash, Snowdrop Tree, Snowflower, American Fringetree, White Fringe, Flowering Ash and Shavings.

  According to the Douglas Harper Online Etymology Dictionary, tincture is a "solution of medicine in a mixture of alcohol."

Preparation and Dosage

• According to the Herbs 2000 website, pour one cup of boiling water on one or two teaspoonfuls of the bark. Leave it in the water for 10 to 15 minutes, strain and cool. Drink one or two milliliters of the mixture up to three times a day.

  Holistic and herbal stores sell prepared decoctions, infusions and extractions of the root bark.

Treatments

• In the late nineteenth century, physicians used fringe tree tinctures called Chionia for rheumatism relief and treatment of liver problems, nephritis and jaundice. They used fresh bark to treat wounds. According to a project of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, physicians considered the tinctures a "diuretic, laxative, cholagogue to increase bile flow, alternative and a useful tonic."

  Homeopathy practices use the herbal remedy as a treatment for gall stones, hepatitis, jaundice and other ailments related to poor liver function. Some practices use fresh root bark to treat migraine and other forms of headaches, depression, wounds and bruises. Practitioners also claim the tinctures cause decreased sugar levels.

Warnings

• The claims of fringe tree remedies are unsupported by clinical research. Herbal treatments are neither evaluated nor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), side effects, allergic reactions and interaction with prescription medication occur with some herbal remedies. The AAFP also stated the products are unregulated, which leads to varying purity or potency.

  A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America reported that vomiting, slow pulse and frontal headaches result from fringe tree overdoses.