Black Haw as an Herb

(Viburnum prunifolium)

The bark of Black Haw, known as Cramp Bark, is employed in herbal medicine.

Note: Berries are dark blue and ovoid in shape and borne in clusters.

Medicinal Uses of Blackhaw

Black Haw, sometimes combined with False Unicorn Root and Goldenseal, has been used to help prevent miscarriage. A tincture of the root bark (1 ml doses every 20 minutes for cramps) has been used to help decrease bleeding and pain after childbirth.

Internally Black Haw has been used to treat menstrual pain (decoction of root bark, sometimes combined with Mugwort).

Black Haw has also traditionally been used to treat bronchitis, asthma, and other lung problems.

Black Haw has been used to treat nervous complaints and debility and used with success in cramps and spasms of all kinds, in convulsions, fits and lockjaw, and also in palpitation, heart disease and rheumatism. The decoction (1/2 oz. to a pint of water) is given in tablespoon doses.

Blackhaw and Fertility

It was once believed that black haw boosted fertility and would thereby increase a slave woman�s ability to bear more children. Many Southern slave owners coerced their female slaves to eat the black haw berries in the hope they make her bear more children. The supposed ability of the herb to boost fertility in women is even mentioned in the old clinical text called the Kings American Dispensatory.

"It was customary for planters to compel female slaves to drink an infusion of black haw daily whilst pregnant to prevent abortion"- thus the plant was believed to control fertility and the reproductive functions of women."

Decoction and Tincture

Dosages for the herbal decoction can be a cup of the decoction, taken 3 times daily during the treatment period. The decoction can be prepared by boiling two teaspoonfuls of the dried black haw bark in a cup of water; the water must be brought to a gentle boil and then allowed to simmer for ten minutes before being cooled and strained. The black haw herb is also used to prepare a herbal tincture. Dosage of the tincture can be a single dose of 5 to 10 ml of the tincture taken thrice daily during the treatment period.

Culinary

Although edible, the berries of Black Haw are too bitter to be palatable eaten fresh off the trees. When they are crushed, they smell somewhat disagreeable, though birds appreciate them and in Siberia the berries used to be, and probably still are, fermented with flour and a spirit distilled from them. They have been used in Norway and Sweden to flavor a paste of honey and flour.

Leaves were once used in the southern United States like tea and the Meskwaki indians ate the fruit.
In Canada, they are used as a substitute for Cranberries and are much used for making a piquant jelly, their sourness gaining them the name of High Bush Cranberry, though the tree is not at all related to the true Cranberry.