straining, adding honey, boiling into a syrup, and bottling for future use.
DOSE: 1 teaspoonful of either the bark, leaves, or berries steeped ½ hour in 1 cupful of boiling water.
When cool, 2–4 cupfuls a day. Of the tincture, 10–20 drops.
EXTERNALLY: For old sores and skin ulcers and wounds apply poultice of bruised leaves and fruit, or a
strong tea, and bathe area as needed.
HOMEOPATHIC CLINICAL: Tincture of fresh bark, roots, or berries for debility, diarrhea, dreams
(annoying), dysentery, epistaxis, hemorrhages, headache, mouth (ulcers in).
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: The sumac species Rhus cariaria grows in south Russia and south Asiatic Russia.
From the raw material, the extract contains an estimated 33 percent tannin (Medicine, Moscow, 1965).
Sumac can be very irritating, especially on hot summer days, when a simple touch of the leaves can
inflame the skin in various ways. Uses: Russian homeopaths and Chinese medicine use sumac for
rheumatism (Moscow University, Moscow, 1963) and for internal bleeding, diarrhea, enteritic colitis
(Atlas, Moscow, 1963). Externally: Tannin extracts are used for burns, fresh wounds, chronic ulcers,
eczema, and as a gargle for inflammation of the throat (Atlas, Moscow, 1963).