Elm smooth

ELM SMOOTH (elm, birch bark)

 

Tree up to 30 m tall with brown smooth, then cracking bark. The shoots are thin, light brown, shiny (in a similar rough elm, the shoots are thick, dark brown, rough). The leaves are rather large, obovate or oval, with a retracted pointed apex, unequal at the base (moreover, one side of the leaf descends lower along the petiole and has a rounded base, and the other ends higher), narrowed or wedge-shaped at the base, sharply double-toothed along the edge. dark green above, grey-green below. The lateral veins of the leaf are traditionally unbranched. Petioles 3-6 cm long. The fruit is an oval lionfish with a nut in the center. The peduncle is several times longer than the lionfish. Flowering in April, fruiting in June.

It occurs in broad-leaved forests, more often in floodplains.

For therapeutic purposes, tree bark is used: inside – for dropsy, chronic rheumatism, fever (together with goat willow bark and birch buds) as an anti-cold remedy, externally – as an anti-inflammatory agent for burns in the form of an ointment or lotion from a decoction of the bark.

Application

Decoction: 2 tbsp. spoons of crushed bark in a glass of boiling water; take 1 tbsp. spoon 3-4 times every day.

Ointment: the above decoction, condensed to half, mix in half with butter or petroleum jelly.

Mixture (for fever): mix two teaspoons of elm bark, goat willow bark and birch buds and brew in a glass of boiling water; take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times every day.

A decoction of elm bark is popularly used for various skin diseases and to relieve pain in cancer of the internal organs.