Slippery Elm Bark Powder

by Gudrun Maybaum
June 2001

Common Name: Slippery Elm
Botanical name: Ulmus fulva
Family: Ulmaceae 

Slippery Elm is also known as Indian elm and red elm. It is one of the thirty-four species of elm tree, growing in the Central and Northern States of the USA. The other elms have some medicinal qualities, but the Slippery Elm is by far the most therapeutically useful. The part that is used is the inner bark and it is harvested in the spring from the bole and larger branches.

The inner bark of the Slippery Elm is an official drug in the United States Pharmacopoeia. 

In the old days it was widely known, but the Native Americans used it the most. They made a beverage from the ground-up tree bark that was soothing to an inflamed alimentary canal and also very nutritious. The Native Americans also used it as a healing salve. Until not too long ago, Slippery Elm was part of home-made baby foods and a common remedy for digestive disorders. 

Today Slippery Elm is one of the most valuable remedies in the herbal pharmacy. The powder contains an abundance of tannins and mucilage, which have both an astringent and anti-inflammatory effect. It is soothing and healing to all parts it comes in contact with. All areas that it reaches are rejuvenated, coated, and protected from irritations such as inflammations and infections. When all other foods fail, Slippery Elm is well tolerated by the stomach and can reestablish harmony in inflamed intestines within hours to a day. Slippery Elm is also an ingredient in bronchitis and lung remedies. 

Slippery Elm does several things at the same time; absorbs impurities and toxins and helps them to pass harmlessly out of the body, while nourishing the whole body and assisting the activity of the adrenal glands.

Case studies:

Izara was a Scarlet Macaw who spent the first 18 years of his life in a small wire cage and on a one-foot perch. His main diet was sunflower seeds and salted peanuts from the supermarket, some crackers and banana. At his new home, he learned to eat fresh vegetables as well as fruits and nuts and loved them. One day his crop was very full and he just did not look right. He was brought in the house for closer observation. His crop was not emptying. He was not eating and did not produce any droppings. A few hours after he was fed a decoction of Slippery Elm and warm water, he started digesting, produced droppings, his crop began to empty and in a few days he was fine. 

Recipe for digestive problems:
1 teaspoon Slippery Elm bark powder
4 teaspoons of warm water

Cleo is an Umbrella Cockatoo who is usually very hand shy. One Saturday evening, just three hours after a visit to the avian vet, I found him sitting on the bottom of the cage with limp legs and almost no powder on his feathers. Cleo became very cuddly and was brought in the house. I prepared a mash from slippery elm, peanut butter, aloe vera gel and warm water, which he ate willingly. The next morning he started using his legs a bit and his cuddliness was reduced. I consulted the vet, who said, “Just keep doing what you are doing and keep a close eye on him and save him the stress of a trip to the office if it is not necessary.” After two days Cleo had his powder back, could use his legs pretty well and was almost his old freaky, hand-shy little guy again. The vet said it may have been metal poisoning. Cleo has been fine ever since. 

Recipe:
1 teaspoon Slippery Elm bark powder
1 tea spoon aloe vera gel
1/2 teaspoon peanut butter
Enough warm water to soften it

This must be fed immediately because it becomes gooey very quickly. 

Another case involves a cockatoo who was bleeding from the vent. His owners called his veterinarian who said the only thing she would recommend was exploratory surgery because there was obviously some internal injury. She suggested the bird may have swallowed something he shouldn't have. They didn't want him to undergo surgery, so she said if they wanted, they could try Slippery Elm because someone she knew used it for healing many digestive tract problems. They purchased some Slippery Elm powder and sprinkled it on the bird's seeds. The bird was very eager to eat the powder, almost as if he knew it would help him. The bleeding stopped and the bird got well. 

I have given Slippery Elm with Aloe Vera for different cases of poisoning, with Plantain tea for crop infections, and for open wounds, mixed with Plantain and White Willow Tincture. It worked quickly every time. 

References:

Herbal Medicine, Sharol Tilgner, N.D.
Today’s Herbal Health, Louise Tenney, M.H.
www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/e/elmsli09.html
www.npicenter.com/library/herbal/materiamedica/SLIPPERY.asp