the trees’ use in folk medicine are predominantly Irish. These have all involved
exploitation of the bark. Collected in spring from branches four to five years
old, dried, chopped up and then boiled, this has been valued as a gargle for
sore throats in Sligo^33 and Tipperary,^34 to counter diarrhoea in Meath^35 and
for adding to a hot bath for sore or excessively perspiring feet (Donegal,^36
Meath,^37 Kilkenny^38 ) or a sprained ankle (Offaly^39 ). Because of its drying and
constricting effect, the same decoction has found use for ulcers in Meath^40
and Sligo,^41 and for toothache and neuralgia in Wicklow.^42 It has also been
deployed against pin-worms in Meath.^43 But for ringworm a decoction of
six of the leaves has been the preferred treatment in Offaly.^44
In Britain the properties of oaks have been valued noticeably more
sparsely and for fewer though broadly similar ailments: for rheumatism in
Essex,^45 diarrhoea in Suffolk^46 and sore throats in the Highlands.^47 That Suf-
folk use, though, has been unusual in involving a powder made from the
acorns.
Betulaceae
Betula pendula Roth
silver birch
Europe, western Asia, Morocco; introduced into North America,
NewZealand
Betula pubescens Ehrhart
downy birch
Eurasia, Greenland; introduced into the rest of North America
Birch trees (Betula pendula and B. pubescens) have had two quite distinct
roles in non-veterinary folk medicine, depending on whether the sap or the
bark was utilised. The former has traditionally been prized over much of
Europe for a tonic wine made from it, a tradition reflected in records in Brit-
ain from Lincolnshire^48 and the Highlands.^49 At least some of these British
users have rated the wine highly as a treatment for rheumatism.^50 The
method used to extract the liquid was to make an incision three to four inches
wide in the trunk and funnel the resulting ooze through a hollowed-out piece
of elder or a straw into a collecting container, limiting the procedure to just
a day or two at most in order not to tap the tree to the point of exhaustion.
Use of the bark, on the other hand, appears to have been exclusive to Ire-
land, where it was considered effective for eczema; there are records of this
from Meath,^51 Cork^52 and Kerry.^53
88 Quercus robur