Ryan
Drum
Island Herbs
P O Box 25
Waldron, WA 98297-0025
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POPLAR BUDS
Also known as Balm of Gilead Buds
The poplar buds used to make Balm of Gilead extracts are usually from Cottonwood Poplars; the most effective medicines are made from the extremely aromatic and resinous dormant leaf and floral buds of the cottonwood poplar, Populus trichocarpa. Other western poplars such as the balsam poplar common in the Rocky Mountains and the arid plains of Alberta also have ample amounts of extractable resins. The poplars with the least amount of medicinal resins are the Lombardi poplars and the various hybrid poplars grown for pulp.
Poplar buds are best used fresh, live for medicine. If not fresh, then frozen and thawed. Freeze-dried buds may produce effective medicine, I do not know. Dried buds will always be rotten, black and crumbly inside from fungal decay. The drying process takes 3-6 weeks. The very same resins that protect the magnificent buds from rotting and freezing on the tree also impede rapid or even effective drying at 70-100 degrees F. I have only dried them twice and both times the buds rotted within before complete drying was obtained. When I went out into the herbal marketplace, I saw that all of the dried poplar buds available were also rotten within. DO NOT USE DRIED POPLAR BUDS FOR MEDICINES.
The closed dormant buds can be harvested anytime after they are fully formed, often by Bastille Day (14.July) right on thru the late summer, autumn, and winter. Once the late winter or early spring temperatures rise above about 52-54 degrees for the most of daytime for several days, the buds rapidly burst open, flinging aromatic bud scales onto the ground and displaying beautiful reddish catkins for the bees to pollinate, and they do with gusto. Once the buds begin to swell immediately prior to opening, it is really probably too late for medicinal harvesting. I believe the best time frame for gathering Poplar buds for medicine is in Capricorn and Aquarius, circa 20.December thru 22.February. I have picked the buds from intact live trees, from just felled trees, and from windfall branches blown down during big wind storms. I much prefer the latter. As soon as the weather clears after a big wind storm in late December or early January, and the temperature is 28-35 degrees F, I go out well-dressed into the swamplands with a 1-2 gallon hard plastic bucket and leisurely pick from one-half to one pound an hour of live buds. I harvest both the terminal buds of fruiting spurs and the lateral buds originally formed as axillary buds; when the entire tip of a fruiting spur is covered with a thick resin coating, so that the stem as well as the terminal bud and the subtending 2-7 leaf buds are reddish-brown, I carefully snap off the entire resin-coated twig and include it. I check carefully the butts of every bud and stem to make sure they are green and white, with no black or brown lines; these brown lines always indicate that fungal rot has already begun within the bud, either when the branch was still on the tree, or, that the branch has been off the tree for too long, probably from an earlier storm. Temperatures colder than 28 degrees are too cold for bare fingertip harvest. Warmer temperatures present buds which are very sticky; the warmer the temperature, the more sticky the protective bud resins become and the harvester's fingers and/or gloves become unmanageably covered with sticky resins and everything sticks to the fingers, including the just-picked buds; I try to use only one particular hand during each harvest session so I have a non-sticky useful hand for other functions. Due to considerations of cold and daylight, I usually only harvest 3-4 pounds per harvest session. Since I live within walking distances of the trees, I do not need to worry about being able to drive, or, about getting a good return for my travel time and capital invested in a vehicle etc. A drive-in harvest would need considerably more efficiency to actually be profitable. If the buds are picked too quickly, preharvest rotters are likely to be missed and included with the harvest. These often swollen, brighter green buds are very plump and big, but have characteristic partially opened outer scales, indicating damage by trauma or fungal rot within. These rotters will contaminate the other buds and increase the likelihood of further buds rotting and also the macerating buds once in oil.
For the best medicine, the buds should be placed in the macerating medium as they are picked. Often this is too difficult in the cold and on foot. The next best procedure is to have the menstruum ready before the buds are harvested; otherwise, keep the buds chilled until ready to use; if this will be a long time, consider freezing them. Having lived without refrigeration for 25 years, freezing was not a real option for me. I have no direct experience, only hearsay from other healers.
PROCESSING POPLAR BUDS FOR MEDICINE
Poplar buds have a relatively small amount of water in them. They are so dense they will sink in water. They are suitable for hot oil maceration without any mechanical preparation Do not mash, cut or otherwise mechanically damage the buds before putting them in the macerating oil; ESPECIALLY, do not blend the fresh buds with oil.POPLAR BUD OIL
Poplar bud oil is simply made by placing one part of Poplar buds (live fresh poplar buds) into three parts appropriate oil: this means for 1 quart of maceration, use three cups of oil and one cup or 1/2 pound of fresh live poplar buds. I use olive oil, extra virgin organic only.For one gallon of macerate, use three quarts of oil and two pounds of fresh buds.
The functions of heating are:
Stir the buds in the hot oil four to eight times daily during those first 72 hours (three days) to hasten air and water removal.
After 72 hours or so, (the exact timing is not critical; but doing it the same way each time will tend to yield more consistent product quality and effectiveness) keep the buds and oil macerating together at 90-105 degrees F for at least 2 weeks, a month is better. Oil extraction speed and efficiency of resinous materials is very temperature dependent; higher temperatures tend to promote better extraction; conversely, even slightly too high temperatures can accelerate molecular fragmentation and degradation, often losing important healing constituents.
During the long maceration, try to stir the buds gently at least once daily with a wooden spoon handle or other suitable wooden implement. Except when stirring, keep maceration vessel LOOSELY covered.
After one month, let the oil and buds stand for 48 hours without stirring; then very carefully pour the oil off the buds (decanting) into a clean dry clear glass container; wash this container and dry totally before using; the object is to eliminate water from the final product. To help facilitate this, let the decanted oil in the clear glass container stand for 48 hours, covered, at room temperature (about 70 degrees F). After 48 hours, very carefully examine the material, if any at the bottom of the oil in the clear container, to look for little water droplets; hopefully, there will be none. If any, carefully decant the oil into another clear clean jar, trying to leave any water droplets behind. The water-free oil is ready to use, store, blend.
Poplar bud oil extracts are usually very rich in anti-oxidants. These extracts tend to not go rancid, often for a decade or more. Historically and probably prehistorically, indigenes in the Mexican northwest and the American Southwest used whole cottonwood poplar buds directly in oils, and animal fats and greases to prevent rancidity. I have personally preserved lard for years at a time in this manner. This means that poplar bud oil products can have a long shelf life.
DO NOT PRESS THE BUDS LEFT IN THE MACERATION JAR IN AN ATTEMPT TO CONSERVE OIL. IF YOU INSIST ON PRESSING THESE SEMI-SPENT BUDS, PLEASE DO NOT MIX THE OIL FROM THEM WITH THE CAREFULLY-DECANTED WATER-FREE OIL.
Instead, set up a second maceration with the original buds: add the oil-soaked buds to an equal amount of fresh oil at room temperature, heat to 120-130 degrees F for 12-24 hours, stirring frequently. Thereafter, keep in a warm place, about 100 degrees F, until ready to process:The water-free oil that has been poured off seems to yield better and apparently increasingly more powerful medicine: sometimes for years. Such long term storage must be moisture-free and preferably stored in the dark. It will eventually rancidify.
A fascinating complicating factor in the preparation of poplar bud extracts is the complex nature of the protective resins; in most buds, there are several different resins of varying solubility in the macerating oil. As the maceration progresses, one or more resins may deposit on the sides of the maceration vessel or as a discrete separate layer on the bottom. These resins are the same ones that bees use to manufacture propolis, the antimicrobial plaster for their hives. Propolis has a long and revered healing history from the ancient Greeks through the present. Much of the healing action of poplar bud extracts seems to be dependent upon the amount of resins dissolved into them. These resins can be scraped off and macerated separately with more oil or added to the storage vessel with the water-free oil. Or, a superior medicine can be prepared by carefully lifting out the spent buds of the first maceration with a cooking forceps or draining ladle, leaving the oil and separated resins together in the original maceration vessel. The buds can be processed separately as above.
NOTE:
The medicinal properties and efficacy of poplar bud extracts can vary greatly according to not only the species used, but even the individual trees used, the time of the year harvested, how the buds are harvested, and how they are processed into medicine.Another complicating factor is that a small, probably less than 1% of the American population seems to have an exaggerated epidermal sensitivity to the poplar bud resin or juice and they develop the early signs of anaphylactic shock; flushed face, labored breathing, hives (often very itchy), swollen face, itchy runny eyes, and some dizziness. Most of these people have general sensitivity to aspirin and aspirin products. Poplar buds contain populin, which is similar to salicin, and both contain salicylates. Use caution or provide some warning.
Poplar bud oil is a wonderful addition to massage oils, especially those used for deep tissue work.
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©2005-2008
Ryan Drum
P O Box 25, Waldron, WA 98297-0025, e-mail info
- Updated - 4.01.2008 -
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