poplar

As a medicinal plant, the Black poplar (Populus nigra L.) and the Quaking aspen (Populus tremula) used. Both plant extracts are mainly used in the field of infectious diseases.

Occurrence & cultivation of the poplar

The black poplar and the trembling aspen are mainly used as medicinal plants. Both plant extracts are mainly used in the field of infectious diseases.

Their wood is soft and easy to work with, which is why it is often used in the furniture industry. Poplars grow dioecious with alternate, triangular and undivided small leaves. Often they are also heart-shaped to ovoid. The stipules fall off early. Most poplar species have same-sex kittens that droop limply without an envelope. The scales that surround the flowers are shaped like roof tiles, the bracts are serrated or slotted.

Typical characteristics of the family and genus are the seeds, which are provided with a basal hairy tuft. The quivering aspen is also known as aspen or white poplar. It has female and male catkins as flowers. The leaves move even with very little draft, which is where the saying “tremble like aspen leaves” goes back. The leaves are rounded to heart-shaped and have sharp points, the edge of the leaf is evenly serrated.

The petiole is thin, long and pressed together laterally. Their distribution area extends from the subpolar zone of Alaska and Canada to the warm to hot climates of the southern USA and central Mexico. The leaves of the black poplar are 5 to 12 centimeters in size, they are diamond-shaped or triangular in shape, the leaf blades are long, pointed, with laterally compressed petioles. The buds are reddish brown and bare, the young twigs are round.

The male poplar flowers have 15 to 30 stamens, the female flowers with two sessile stigmas. The black poplar can reach a height of 30 meters and is widespread. It is native to continental Europe, north-west Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Iran, the Caucasus, the Chinese province of Xinjiang and Siberia. Poplars are often used as fast-growing trees on avenues.

Effect & application

The resinous winter buds (Populi gemmae) and the bark (Cortex populi) is used. In contrast, the leaves (Populi folium) used. The three to eight millimeter large buds are surrounded by stiff-leaved flakes. They are pointed cone-shaped, broad and shiny brown. The tile-like scale sheets are pointed, boat-shaped and uneven.

Some of them are covered by a shiny, black-brown mass. Larger fragments of the buds, the brown scale leaves and dry-skinned leaves are used as cutting drugs. The smell is spicy to bitter, reminiscent of balm and is a bit strange. Phenol glycosides in the willow bark with the main component salicin and similar substances act as ingredients.

The fresh buds contain 0.27 percent essential oil, the dried buds contain 0.12 percent of this substance. This essential oil is made up of around fifty different components. Other active ingredients are flavonoids, galangin, chrysin, apigenin, rhamnetin, quercetin, isorhamnetin and kaempferol.

Both types of poplar have a healing effect, antiphogistic (anti-inflammatory) and antibacterial. Internal use is mainly based on salicin and salicin derivatives. These are broken down in the intestine into salicin alcohol, which, after being absorbed by the liver and intestines, oxidizes to salicylic acid, the actual active ingredient. The medicinal plant is used for hemorrhoids, skin injuries, sunburn and chilblains.

Traditionally, poplar buds are used for rheumatism, infections of the urinary tract and respiratory tract, and chronic bronchitis. The components of the poplar act as a diuretic and expectorant (drugs that promote expectoration). A positive effect has been found in benign prostate enlargement.

Homeopathy often uses the American aspen. As a Bach flower essence, the poplar works under the name "Aspen". Both natural remedies are used to treat fears the origin of which the affected person does not know. These diffuse fears begin with a vague feeling that disaster is approaching, but that it has no real basis.

Individuals who are indicated for Aspen award fear that events will occur that are not good for them. The fears of the Aspen state crop up unexpectedly both at night and during the day. Bach flower therapy and homeopathy make use of the origins of nature and treat the affected persons with a suitable antidote, which is ascribed the same properties as the complaints that occur.

The term quivering poplar reflects very well the complaints from which the patients suffer, they literally "tremble" like "aspen leaves". The poplar is very sensitive and reacts to even small drafts, Aspen patients are also sensitive and very susceptible to all negative influences.

Importance for health, treatment & prevention

The effectiveness for these areas of application has not been scientifically proven, but is based on many years of experience. Both types of poplar are not poisonous, but since it is a drug plant, self-responsible experiments are not advised. However, as processed finished products such as tablets, tinctures or drops, the ingredients of the poplar are harmless.

There are no known interactions with other drugs. Contraindications are hypersensitivity to salicylates, balsam of Peru, propolis and poplar buds, which can cause allergic skin reactions. For external use, a semi-liquid preparation in the form of a tincture is used, which contains 20-30 percent of the plant components.

It is applied to the skin, used as a compress or bath additive. In the case of self-production, 3 to 6 g of the plant drug are mixed with 300 ml of water. When used as a bath, the plant extract is added to the bath water to treat hemorrhoids. In suppository form, the medicinal product contains a thick extract on a water-ethanol basis.