English Oak

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Quercus Robur, Common Oak, Pedunculate Oak, European Oak, English oak

It grows in the forest and steppe zones of the European part, in the Caucasus, In the Urals, Crimea, and Transcaucasia, Oak is one of the main tree species in the zone of deciduous forests and forest-steppe region.

It is a large deciduous tree of the beech family with a height of up to 40 m. The root is powerful and branched. The crown is spreading. The bark of the young shoots is smooth, olive-brown, the old ones are brown-gray, covered with cracks.

The leaves are alternate, simple, oblong-ovate, glabrous, shiny, with protruding veins. Blooms in May. The flowers are unisexual. The men’s are collected in hanging brushes (earrings), and the women’s are arranged in numerous scaly wrappers. The fruit is an acorn, ripening in September.

Medicinal raw materials are the bark, less often acorns. Bark harvesting is allowed only in areas designated for logging. The bark should not contain impurities of wood and cork layer.

For the convenience of harvesting on thin trunks and young trees, circular incisions are made at a distance of 30 cm from each other and connect them with a longitudinal section.

At the junction of the annular and longitudinal incisions, the edge of the bark is lifted with a knife and the entire incised area is removed. Dry under a canopy or in a well-ventilated room.

The finished raw material consists of strips of bark 25-30 cm long and 2-6 mm thick, the surface of which is slightly wrinkled, and gray-brown. Stored in wooden containers or bags for up to 5 years.

The bark contains tannins, gallic and ellagalloic acids, pentosans, pectins, flavonoids, quercetin, starch, mucus and phlobaphene. With the increasing age of the tree, the content of tannins in its bark decreases.

Oak preparations have astringent, anti-inflammatory, and anti-putrefactive effects. Tannin (the main active part of the tannins of the bark), when applied to the wound, combines with proteins, forming a protective film that protects the tissue from local irritation, resulting in reduced inflammation and pain. Tannin interacts with the proteins of microorganisms, suspending their growth or leading to death.

They are taken orally for diarrhea, chronic inflammation of the intestines, urinary tract and bladder, with prolonged menstruation, poisoning with mushrooms, copper and lead salts, liver and spleen diseases, and externally for rinsing with inflammatory diseases of the mucous membrane mouth, throat, pharynx, stomatitis and bleeding gums, for washing purulent and non-healing wounds and ulcers, wet eczema, hemorrhoids, burns, with abundant whiteness and sweating of the legs.

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