Japanese Alder

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Japanese alder is one of the plants of the family called birch, in Latin the name of this plant will sound as follows: AInus japonica (Thunb.) Steud. As for the name of the Japanese alder family itself, in Latin it will be like this: Betulaceae S. F. Gray.

Description of Japanese alder

Japanese alder is a tree, the height of which will be about fifteen to twenty meters, and the diameter can reach fifty centimeters. The bark of old trees will be colored dark gray, while young shoots of this plant can be either bare or slightly pubescent. Almost Japanese alders are on stalks, they are resinous and bare. Japanese alder leaves can be oblong-lanceolate or narrow-elliptical, while to the very base such leaves will be wedge-shaped-narrowed. The length of the leaves of this plant will be about six to twelve centimeters, and the width will be equal to two to five centimeters. Young leaves of Japanese alder are endowed with very slight pubescence, adult leaves will be painted in dark green tones, they are shiny above, and below they will be lighter. Such leaves are endowed with barbs of hairs located in the corners of the veins, they will be acutely irregular and finely toothed. Japanese alder cones are either oval-oblong or oval, their length will be about one to two centimeters, and their width will be one to one and a half centimeters.

The flowering of this plant occurs in the month of April until the moment when the leaves open. Under natural conditions, Japanese alder is found on the territory of South Sakhalin, in the Kuril Islands, as well as in Primorye in the Far East. As for the general distribution, this plant is found in China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. For growth, Japanese alder prefers swampy places, lake shores, seaside and river terraces along the sea coast.

Description of the medicinal properties of Japanese alder

Japanese alder is endowed with very valuable healing properties, while it is recommended to use the fruits and bark of this plant for medicinal purposes. The presence of such valuable medicinal properties should be explained by the content of triterpenoids taraxeroli and betulinic acid in the bark of this plant, as well as phenolic glycosides: hirzutenone and hirzutanonol derivatives. The following phenols are found in the wood of these plants: alnuson, alnusoxide and alnusonol, in the kidneys there are flavonoids and the triterpenoid p-amirenone. The leaves of Japanese alder contain hyperoside, sitosterol and triterpenoids.

The broth prepared on the basis of the bark of this plant is endowed with a very effective hemostatic effect. A decoction based on Japanese alder seeds is used as a diuretic. It is noteworthy that it has been proven that the extract of the fruits of this plant is endowed with a very valuable antibacterial activity.

It is recommended to use the following very effective remedy based on this plant as a hemostatic agent: to prepare such a healing agent, you will need to take eight to ten grams of crushed Japanese alder bark in one glass of water. It is recommended to boil the resulting healing agent over a fairly low heat for about five to six minutes, then such a mixture should be infused for one hour, after which such a mixture is filtered very carefully. The resulting healing agent based on Japanese alder is taken three to four times a day in two tablespoons as a hemostatic agent. It should be noted that with proper use and preparation, such a healing agent is characterized by a very high degree of effectiveness.