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Wahoo Herb - Uses And Side Effects

Wahoo is a small, thin shrub with narrow, opposite leaves, green stems, and tiny, inconspicuous flowers that give way to crimson red fruits that look like strawberries. This shrub or tree is native to the central eastern parts of the United States and Canada. Researchers have studied the bark of a related species, E. sieboldianus, as a possible cancer treatment.

This shrub or small tree, which is from 6 to 26 feet in height, more often reaching only 10 feet, has an ashy gray bark and rather thin, pointed leaves from 1 1/2 to 5 inches in length and about half as wide. The purple flowers are produced in June in loose, slender-stemmed clusters of from 6 to 15 flowers each. The pale-purple fruit consists of four deeply cleft, flattened lobes. In autumn the capsules open and disclose the seed surrounded by a red, false seed coat, giving the bush a bright and showy appearance.

Common doses of Wahoo

Wahoo comes as tablets, extracts, tinctures, dried powders, syrups, and teas. Some experts recommend the following doses:

• As dried root, 1 ounce added to 1 pint of water, simmered slowly. Drink 1 cup two or three times daily.
• As euonymin extract, 1 to 4 grains.

Uses of Wahoo herb

Wahoo is one of the primary liver herbs. It acts to remove congestion from the liver, allowing the free flow of bile and so helping the digestive process. Specifically, wahoo may help to :-

• Fever
• Fluid retention
• Head lice
• Indigestion
• To cause a productive cough
• To stimulate menstruation
• To stimulate the liver

Side effects of Wahoo

Call your health care practitioner if you experience any of these possible side effects of wahoo:

• chills
• seizures
• diarrhea
• vomiting
• fainting
• weakness.

Are there any interactions?

Combining herbs with certain drugs may alter their action or produce unwanted side effects. If you're taking wahoo, tell your health care practitioner about any prescription or nonprescription drugs you're taking.

Important points to remember

• Don't use wahoo if you're pregnant or breast-feeding.
• Be aware that this herb may be poisonous.

What the research shows

Although wahoo has been used to treat various internal and external conditions, little evidence supports these claims. What's more, taking large amouts of the herb may be hazardous, so medical experts don't recommend it. However, one wahoo species may help fight cancer, which of course merits further investigation,

Other names for Wahoo

Other names for wahoo include arrowwood, bitter ash, bleeding heart, burning-bush, bursting heart, fish-wood, Indian arrowwood, pegwood, prickwood, skewerwood, spindletree, strawberry bush, and strawberry tree.

Products containing wahoo are sold as GB Tablets, Indigestion Mixture, Jecopeptol, Ludoxin, Stago, and Stomachiagil.