WhiteWillowBarkExtract

The Willow encompasses more than three hundred species. The White Willow is a low-growing deciduous tree that is native to Europe and northern Asia, and naturalized in North America. It grows in damp, low places, especially along riverbanks, and thrives in moist-to-wet, heavy soil in sun, rising to a height of eighty feet.

White Willow branches were once regarded as a symbol of desolation and grief and were displayed by those who experienced "lost love," but it has more often been called one of nature's greatest gifts to man because of its natural painkilling effects. In the first century A.D., the Greek physician, Dioscorides, appears to have been the first to note the use of Willow Bark to ease pain and reduce fevers, and he even specifically prescribed a mixture with the bark to treat lower back pain.

During the Middle Ages, White Willow Bark continued to be used in Europe to reduce fevers and relieve pain. The plant contains salicylic acid, which was first synthesized in 1838, and provides the basis of aspirin; and in 1899, the Bayer Company of Germany introduced a drug composed of a synthetic chemical compound, similar to the active compound in Willow Bark, the "aspirin.

" Native Americans knew of the benefits of White Willow Bark when they used it as a painkiller, a cure for fever and to induce sweating. Some tribes used Black Willow Bark to quell sexual desire and also made good use of the stems for basket-weaving. The stems are still used to create baskets and in the manufacture of wicker furniture and artists' charcoal pencils.

Over the centuries, White Willow Bark's growing list of medicinal applications has risen to include remedies for insomnia, colds, rheumatism and dysentery. Some of the constituents included in White Willow Bark are apigenin, beta-carotene, catechin, lignin, rutin, salicin, salicylic acid, tannin, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc,B-vitamins and vitamin C.