Harvesting Willow Bark for Herbal Remedies
How to harvest willow bark to make herbal remedies that provide relief from pain, fever, and inflammation.
Willow Bark for headaches, fever, pain, and inflammation
Willow provides relief from pain, fever, and inflammation, without the stomach upset that chemical aspirin causes. It is plentiful and easy to collect in the spring.
Spring is the season to harvest willow bark for herbal medicine. Willow (Salix ssp.) contains salicin – the compound found in aspirin, as well as tannins. Willow bark tincture and willow bark tea (decoction) are the best ways to benefit from willow.
Most commonly, Salix alba, varieties are used for medicinal purposes, as well as Salix nigra. Both are fast-growing willows. Many Salix alba (white willow) varieties, such as Vitellini (golden willow), are also colourful basket willows and can be coppiced to provide basket weaving material, as well as herbal medicine. Salix nigra is a native North American willow, found in humid areas.
Medicinal effects of willow:
- Reduces inflammation, useful for gout, back pain, and arthritis
- Reduces fever
- Mild pain reliever
- Tonic
- Blood thinner
- Willow also inhibits sexual urges and has been used to control wet dreams, premature ejaculation, and sexual overstimulation. Salix negra spp are more potent than Salix alba as an anti-aphrodisiac.
How to harvest willow bark for medicine
Strip the bark from the young branches of Salix alba varieties of willow in the Spring just before the sap begins to run when the branches are rich with their new spring colour. This is the easiest time to separate the bark from the branch. If you have harvested the 1-year-old willow rods for basketry, you can simply start at the base of the cut edge and peel it upwards toward the tip. The bark will peel off in strips. You can recognize Salix alba varieties by their brightly coloured bark in early spring — usually yellow, orange, or flaming red. Weeping willow trees and corkscrew willow are both varieties of Salix alba.
For tea/decoction
Once the strips of bark are harvested, allow to dry at room temperature in a dry, and airy spot, stirring frequently until it is fully dry before placing it in a jar and storing it in a cool, dry place.
To make a tincture
Fill a glass jar with strips of freshly harvested willow bark, from first-year growth. Pack down somewhat so that the jar is full of willow bark. Cover the willow bark with vodka and cap. Place in a warm spot and shake once a day to distribute the alcohol through the plant material. After a month, strain the liquid and put it in a coloured glass bottle, to protect the herb. Cap tightly. Label with Salix Alba, Willow Bark tincture and store in a cool, dark place.
Dosage of willow to replace aspirin with herbal remedies:
You might take 4 to 6 mL of willow bark tincture three times daily, capsules containing 60 to 240 mg of salicin daily, or three to four cups of tea made by simmering 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried bark in 8 ounces of boiling water for 15 minutes. Ask your doctor about the correct dose of white willow bark or aspirin before taking either remedy.
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Joybilee farm,
Great article and you give good sensible advice in the comments. I’ve been a practicing herbalist since 2011 and one of the very first herbs I looked at was Black Willow (Salix nigro). It was local, plentiful, and I needed a natural way to treat my neck injury which gave me very bad headaches. After a decade of formula tweaking I have developed a very good Headache Tincture that contains a measured amount of willow bark along with valerian root, passionflower, and other herbs for nervine. I’ve been taking it for over 10 years now and stay on a measured amount constantly to treat the bad nerve pain. This pain management system is far better than Rx drugs ever thought about being. I can attest to the ease of use and effectiveness of Willow Bark to help treat even severe nerve pain successfully.
One thing that needs to be mentioned is that the salicin (glucoside) eventually breaks down into salicylic acid in the blood stream. Make sure you do no combine your willow bark tincture or tea with other salicylates like Pepto-Bismol, pain patches, or sports crème rubs that contain topical salicylates like methyl salicylate (menthol or oil of wintergreen). Let my experimentation be a lesson for everyone. If your ears start ringing and won’t stop, stop taking the willow bark. That’s the first symptom I remember having and signifies the CNS is being affected. Then I started to get nauseous. Then I made a big mistake. I took a Pepto-Bismol tablet and spent the next few hours dry heaving on the bathroom floor bowing to the toilet god until 3am. Don’t do that. Here’s one case study of an 80 y/o elderly man to review.
If you find yourself out in the woods and needing some pain relief, fever reducer, or an anti-inflammatory, just peel yourself a quarter size piece of bark and chew on it. It (Salix nigro) really has no taste but gives pretty fast results as it absorbs directly into the bloodstream in the mouth.
I’m wrapping this up otherwise it’ll get too long. 80 proof tinctures will last about 5 years and 100 proof even longer. So date your bottles.
Happy Trails,
Tim
Hi. I purchased a bottle of white willow bark tincture on Etsy and it worked wonderfully for my migraines. I later purchased a bottle from another seller and it burned my mouth, and it had a strong alcohol taste, unlike the first bottle. Both sellers used alcohol for their tinctures. The only difference being, the 1st seller stated that she let it steep for 12 weeks and the 2nd seller stated “6 weeks or more”. I would really like to make it myself, however I don’t want it to burn. I keep reading that you need 100 proof alcohol for bark tinctures, but I wonder if I can simply use 80 proof vodka for a longer period of time?
Thank you!
80 proof vodka is fine to use for dried bark.
Hi, I just harvested some willow today! yay! After I strip off the bark do I discard it? And to make a tincture with the bark does it also have to dry for a while or can it go in a jar after I have stripped it? Thank you!
You can discard the twigs or you can use them to make a craft. Up to you. It’s the inner bark you want for your tincture.
Do you have to use spring willow or can u use fall willow as well?
You can use the bark at any time, but in spring the bark is easier to remove from the tree.
I have black willow in my are of Louisiana.
Can I use it the same?
Yes, black willow works for this, too.
Hello…I just read on another site that weeping willow is an ornamental tree not used for medicine making…I see you say above it can be used. Can you Please clarify?
Thank you
Weeping willow is all I have ever used.
Wow, this is fantastic. Thank you.
Hi my name is Louren. I am doing a science project on how willow bark effects the environment in the process of making aspirin. What effects does cutting down willow bark have on our environment?
Louren, they don’t make aspirin out of willow bark. Aspirin is made in a lab from chemicals today. If you mean what effect does harvesting willow bark for herbal remedies have. Very little environmental effect. Twigs and branches can be used for the herbal medicine so there is no need to cut down the tree. Trees harvested for basket weaving remain living, and the bark is often removed from the willow withes as part of the preparation for basket making. The bark then is a by-product.
Hello there,
I am doing a science project where I’m comparing different methods of extracting salicin from willow bark and as your methods are quite similar to the process of maceration and infusion, I’ve used your instructions as sort of guidelines. However, I would like to know your sources for everything in the article, as the only source I could find directly from the article was to livestrong, and they tend to leave the sourcing out completely, which means the source control is weak and thus not scientifically significant.
Looking forward to an answer!
Dear Miranda. Try Medicinal plants of the Pacific West, by Michael Moore, Shaker Medicinal herbs by Amy Bess Miller, Medical Herbalism by Hoffman. Just about any herbal medicine text book will give you the constituents of willow bark. If you are doing a science project though I highly recommend you use Google Scholar and not a blog to find your information. When using Google Scholar, use the botanical name Salix spp. rather than the common name. And you’ll get quite a few hits for salix alba in the scientific literature. There is a lot of research being done in Asia and Germany on herbs right now.