Oregon grape (Mahonia aquilfolia or M. nervosa) - harvesting and medicinal use

Today, dear Kai (and Evan?) gifted me with some Oregon grape root from where he was digging a new garden bed. Josh and maybe others have gifted me with this in the past. I love it! Thank you guys!

Mostly, I've been pretty casual (i.e., lazy) in how I dry, save and use the root for tea. Paul has mentioned a few times that he thought it was just the inner bark that was best to use, so I thought I'd finally do a bit of research before drying these roots for my tea stash.


(Oregon grape, we think it's M. nervosa, here at wheaton labs - photo by Fred.)

Here on permies I found two threads:
Mahonia or Oregon Grape (using the fruit) - this was started by someone wondering about using the berries for jelly.
oregon grape root (medicinal - use for candida?) - this was a thread asking about whether it is effective against candida and athlete's foot.


(Another pic of Oregon grape at wheaton labs, this time by Evan.)

So I thought I'd start a new thread about harvesting and medicinal uses in general. I've learned some cool things.

Harvesting:
--root is commonly harvested
--stems have as much or more medicinal properties as root
--berries and flowers are edible though not usually used medicinally
--yellow inner bark often used as a dye

Medicinal uses:
--berberine (also found in barberry and goldenseal) is antiseptic and antiviral
--contains lots of other useful phytochemicals as well as tannins
--topical (as cream) helps heal psoriasis
--acts positively on liver

Sources:
http://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/oregon-grape-herb.html
https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/products/oregon-grape-root/profile
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-493-oregon%20grape.aspx?activeingredientid=493&activeingredientname=oregon%20grape
http://wildfoodsandmedicines.com/oregon-grape/

From that last Wild Foods and Medicines link:

As a beginning herbalist I was instructed to dig up dwarf Oregon grape rhizomes to harvest the potent medicinal yellow bark.  This was a tedious process since I had to dig the entire plant, wash the roots, and then carefully scrape the outer bark with a knife so that all of the yellow bark was removed from the inner white root.  I felt guilty killing the plant.  Years later, Skokomish elder Bruce Miller showed me how to peel the bark off the large stems of tall Oregon grape.  He took me to a plant that he had been harvesting from for over 30 years and it did not look damaged by the taking!  I enthusiastically cut a few 8-foot stems and easily stripped them – no digging or washing necessary.  Out of curiosity, I tested the berberine content (an alkaloid that has potent medicinal properties) on both the dwarf Oregon grape root and the tall Oregon grape stem bark with thin layer chromatography.  The stem was slightly higher in berberine.  Needless to say, I have never gone back to digging the roots!

What other tips and experience do you all have with Oregon grape?

Thanks Jocylyn!  I'm just getting started with this plant this year and this is great info.

Following!

I have three established mahonia aquifolium (tall) and eight or so new ones I put in as part of a hedge. I also have the low-growing, creeping form naturalized in my yard.

I did not know you could use the stems. I may make a tincture and a salve this year...maybe with some plantain?

So did they test inner stem bark or whole stem bark for berberine? Oregon grape is a powerful antibiotic in tincture form, but also great for many problems.

Joy Oasis wrote:So did they test inner stem bark or whole stem bark for berberine? Oregon grape is a powerful antibiotic in tincture form, but also great for many problems.

Hm, it's hard to tell for sure from what the author, Elise Krohn, wrote whether is was the whole bark or just the inner bark. I'm thinking the whole bark, though I don't know.

Here is her picture from the article on stripping bark from the root:

Regarding use of inner bark or whole bark: The outer bark is usually thin and not necessary to remove as it is with some large branch of a tree with thick bark. Easier to just leave it intact. You want the entire bark with attention to the part that is yellow inside. The yellow part has the berberine in it which is one of the active constituents. Cut or pound it off while still fresh. Once you dry the root/stem it will be hard to get the bark off. For smaller roots/stems you can use the entire stem or root. The medicinal part is only in the yellow part, but if the inner core is not very big, it seems like a waste of time to bother separating them. Simply use a little more when you make your tea or other product. If making tincture you might want to bother getting only the bark as you don't want to wast soaking up your alcohol/water mix into the inner core where there is no medicine as you are not able to press all of it out.

Sharol Tilgner wrote:Regarding use of inner bark or whole bark: The outer bark is usually thin and not necessary to remove as it is with some large branch of a tree with thick bark. Easier to just leave it intact. You want the entire bark with attention to the part that is yellow inside. The yellow part has the berberine in it which is one of the active constituents. Cut or pound it off while still fresh. Once you dry the root/stem it will be hard to get the bark off. For smaller roots/stems you can use the entire stem or root. The medicinal part is only in the yellow part, but if the inner core is not very big, it seems like a waste of time to bother separating them. Simply use a little more when you make your tea or other product. If making tincture you might want to bother getting only the bark as you don't want to wast soaking up your alcohol/water mix into the inner core where there is no medicine as you are not able to press all of it out.

Such useful tips - thank you!!

Thanks for posting all this info! We acquired some Oregon Grape seeds, knowing they provide fruit, but very pleased to learn they are medicinal as well.