Ash (Fraxinus) in French herbalism: botany, constituents, traditional uses for gout, joint pain and kidney drainage, forms, dosage and precautions
I was leafing through a great classic of North American herbalism, written in the 1800s (which is a rather fabulous century for herbalism). And I noticed that ash is almost never mentioned. Unless I missed something. Here in France, it’s a major herbal remedy.
It’s a tree I really like to use in my herbal blends. It’s a sacred tree in Norse mythology. It’s called Yggdrasil, the world tree. Every day the gods gather at Yggdrasil for their assembly. Its branches stretch very far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend very far into other worlds. I’ll let you explore Norse mythology if it interests you. Here, in this episode, we’re going to focus on its medicinal properties according to French practice.
Before we start, I’d like to remind you that I am neither a doctor, pharmacist, nor healthcare professional. The information shared in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical care.
Let’s start with a bit of botany as usual. Ashes belong to the Oleaceae family, along with olive, lilac, and jasmine. They are fairly easy to recognize. First, by their buds, which are quite large and dark brown, tending toward black in the common ash. Then by their compound leaves, made up of about 5 pairs of leaflets, one on each side and a terminal leaflet at the very tip.
The flowers appear before the leaves, in February, and consist of clusters of pistils and stamens without petals. Then the flat fruits appear, which are also characteristic; they’re called “samaras.” I’ll let you look at the photos in your favorite books.
Here in the south of France, ash is usually found in damp areas, along canals or rivers, in shaded spots. In other regions it’s generally similar, though it depends on the area; it can also be found in somewhat drier places.
There are three types of ash in France: common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia), and manna ash (Fraxinus ornus). Manna ash is smaller and is used to harvest its characteristic exudate, which forms white blocks that we use here in France as an osmotic laxative. More on that in a future episode.
In any case, today we’re not talking about manna, but about the tree’s other medicinal parts, and for those, all three types of ash can be used. Manna comes only from manna ash. The leaves and samaras can be harvested from all ashes. So from now on, I’ll just say “ash” without specifying which one.
For harvesting, we’ll mainly focus on the leaf. It’s very easy to collect; you can fill a good bag fairly quickly. You can harvest directly from the tree, but watch out for ladder falls. Unfortunately, a good friend of mine was a victim of such a fall and had serious injuries. And be careful not to strip the branches too much; pick a little here and there. The simplest is to gather from the ground, from pruned branches, which is far less dangerous. You can also form good partnerships with tree trimmers.
Then, we dry these beautiful green leaves flat on drying racks. The central part of the compound leaf isn’t very interesting, so you can remove it if you have the patience, while the leaf is still fresh, so you kind of pluck the leaflets.
Samaras, the fruits, can also be used; this was done in the past in France, and we’ll come back to that when we discuss forms, quantities, and preparations.
Worth noting, common ash and narrow-leaved ash are listed as near-threatened species in Europe due to a fungal infection affecting them.
So a rich complexity, which nonetheless gives it a fairly clearly anti-inflammatory, diuretic and draining effect.
Energetics : cooling and drying
Now let’s move on to properties and indications. We will dive into observations from past practitioners to see what they have to tell us.
The first indication, probably the best known in French tradition, is to reduce the frequency and intensity of gout attacks. This was a condition once associated with the highest incomes. We picture the big eater, the bon vivant, the one who ate and drank heavily. Today we don’t really have that profile anymore; high levels of uric acid are mostly a matter of genetics.
Paul-Victor Fournier, in his seminal herbal book, tells us that it was popular practice that opened the door for the use of ash in medical science. He goes on to tell us about a certain Dr. Peyraud who said:
“After vainly trying every known remedy against the gout that tormented him, he turned, on the advice of one of his patients (a fine example of scientific modesty) to ash leaves, and found such relief that, over a span of four years, he had only one attack, dispelled in five days by using the same remedy.”
Another physician, a certain Dr. Delarue, drew his colleagues’ attention to these same properties. A working-class woman advised him to use ash leaves to treat his own mother, who suffered from generalized chronic gout, with sharp joint pain, considerable swelling, and movement difficulties bordering on complete immobility. Within the first two weeks, an improvement appeared, and within a few months the patient was cured.
We read those testimonials of the past, and we think… wait, that sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn’t it? OK, but what do we risk by trying? If you’re not on multiple medications and there’s no risk of major interactions between herbs and medication, what do we have to lose by trying ash as a remedy for gout? The question is rhetorical, in case you hadn’t noticed.
So ash can help reduce the frequency of gout attacks, and probably their intensity, through a draining effect on uric acid via the kidneys. And even without an attack, it can help lower uricemia, the levels of uric acid circulating in the blood, which risk causing inflammation and deposits if nothing is done.
OK. We now broaden the discussion to include any joint pain and inflammation that isn’t necessarily gout. Whether we call it osteoarthritis, rheumatism, or something else, this is also a very common use of ash in tradition.
At a simple level, ash leaf can be used as a fairly generic joint anti-inflammatory herb for any type of chronic joint pain condition. Fournier cites a Dr. Decaux who successfully prescribed ash leaves as a tea to arthritic patients, either alone or combined with other plants such as meadowsweet or blackcurrant leaves.
And here we recognize a very famous blend, created by Dr. Leclerc’s (another very influential herbal doc of the first half of the 1900’s), called the “centenarians’ herbal tea”. Ash is often found in various blends for healthy aging, blends designed to care for the joints, circulation, and inflammation.
Another blend, from a German laboratory called Phytodolor, has been studied as a joint anti-inflammatory and analgesic (the studies were probably funded by the company, although the “conflict of interest” section is absent from the study, so I can’t confirm this). Here is the formulation:
An important point from Fournier: when the condition is chronic, ash must be used over fairly long periods, so patience is needed; courses of treatment are sometimes long. We are talking several weeks to several months here.
Now let’s move on to something more specific. Here we’ll give the floor to François-Joseph Cazin, who was considered a great rural practitioner of his time; we’re talking about the 1800s. He says he saw this simple, easy remedy succeed against subacute joint pain with seasonal recurrences.
“Subacute” means somewhere between the acute form, short and intense, and the chronic form. So this is one step up from the minor chronic aches of old age. It’s a sort of in-between state, but not yet red, swollen, and acute.
The “seasonal recurrence” part is interesting. It means this is not arthritis that’s problematic all the time. And in Cazin’s time, he worked in rural areas, in cold, poorly heated homes. And cold-damp seems to aggravate the condition.
Cazin tells us that not only did the ailment dissipate quickly, but its return could be prevented by using ash for ten to fifteen days. And indeed, if there is a seasonal component, ash could be taken at a time when we anticipate the pain based on the weather pattern. If cold-damp starts in January, then maybe a course starting mid-December could be useful in prevention.
Let’s try to understand the situation. Cold causes vasoconstriction and muscle tension, which makes the body more sensitive to pain signals. Some studies show that the synovial fluid in joints contains more inflammatory mediators when exposed to cold (Kim 2024). And the synovial fluid thickens and becomes less lubricating. Through its circulatory properties, ash may help loosen things up here. And why not combine it with applying heat to the joints, or put it into a warming balm with other warming plants.
OK. Now we’re going up another step. This time Cazin is talking about acute articular rheumatism, with sharp pain and swelling. Cazin tells us that ash leaves prove all the more effective in people who are less vigorous, where the symptoms of inflammatory reaction are less intense.
It’s a bit like (and I’m not sure if this image works, but let’s try it) someone with a winter infection who doesn’t mount a good fever. There was a time when doctors really didn’t like that, because they knew that for an infection to resolve naturally, you needed a strong fever: you had to “break the fever,” reaching the point where you start sweating heavily, you uncover yourself, and the temperature can begin to come down.
Here, it’s somewhat similar: the patient tells the doctor it really hurts, it’s swollen, but it’s not necessarily very red. There is not enough circulation and life. In Cazin’s time, one would probably expect the inflammatory crisis to be there, visible, red and hot, with a clear beginning and end. And here it just doesn’t manage to get going properly. Do you see what I mean? Well, there is a lot of speculation on my part here, but I’m trying to read between the lines to see what these great practitioners were trying to convey.
Cazin tells us ash will be beneficial because it has a more or less revulsive action on the intestinal tract, skin and urinary tract. So it activates these pathways, which are elimination routes. And here we’re in the drainage paradigm. Since locally nothing is moving, there isn’t enough reaction, enough vitality, we irritate elsewhere and stimulate these elimination routes. And along the way we move the inflammatory substances toward the exit. Perhaps the person is inactive, sedentary, weakened, with poor circulation.
OK that was a lot, so let’s take a short pause. These are what we call “specific indications”. And they are based on careful observation. On the experience of country doctors who saw a very large number of cases. So we need to pay attention.
Let me summarize the situations we’ve discussed so far for ash:
Should you take this literally? No. But if you’re curious, it will take you further into the study of herbs. It can help recognize situations in which a given plant might stand out from others, based on past observations.
Could we broaden this property even further to any chronic conditions affecting tendons, ligaments, and muscles? Perhaps tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia with joint and muscle pain, and so on.
Ash isn’t going to solve everything here, obviously. We’ll often have other plants, other preparations, internal use, and topical application. But as a foundation for the strategy, a component that calms inflammation and stimulates kidney elimination is a good idea. And here, the tea form is unbeatable for stimulating drainage.
Here is one last use of ash: preventing urinary stone formation, in a person who already had a renal colic episode and would like to avoid a repetition.
Ash is found in diuretic tea blends, and along the way it will soothe inflammation of the renal tissue that may have been damaged not long ago by the passage of stones.
Overall, here we need a sweeping effect on the kidneys, a diuretic effect, to avoid urine saturation and avoid deposits. You probably know that the main intervention here is drinking water. Well, even better is drinking herbal teas that have a diuretic and soothing effect, along with water.
In terms of forms and quantities, I generally recommend a simple tea of the leaves. It’s the most tested form, and as I mentioned, we want to stimulate renal elimination, which is part of the strategy, so the tea form is perfect from that standpoint.
For quantities, you can use one tablespoon of cut leaves per cup, or adjust to taste if it’s a bit strong for you. And you can add lemon juice to make the preparation more palatable.
Classic French reference books give much higher dosages: 30 to 60 g of the dried leaves (so 1 to 2 ounces) per liter of tea or decoction. So you can make a decoction of the leaves, which will concentrate the preparation a bit more and will make it a little stronger. Valnet tells us, “boil, then steep for 10 minutes.” As for quantities, 30 g is already a lot for today’s sensitivities, and 60 g, don’t go there, it’s far too strong.
As for using the fruits, the samaras : Fournier tells us they contain even more active principles than the leaves. Dr. Leclerc recommended a powder taken at 4 to 15 g per cup of tea. So you infuse the powder in hot water.
He also mentions a syrup prescribed to “old arthritics,” in which he raises the dose to 125 g of powder per liter of boiling water, this liquid serving as the base for his syrup. Here we go back to the view of ash as something that “irritates” and activates the elimination channels in an elderly person who is too weak for effective detoxification.
For the samaras, Fournier mentions 10 to 30 g per liter as a prolonged decoction. If you’ve never tried samaras, start gently. As for me, I don’t have experience with their use, unlike the leaves.
In the past, a decoction of the bark was used to bring down fever. That’s why it was called “European cinchona,” at a time when malaria was rampant in our country’s wetlands, here in France, and these so-called “intermittent fevers” were a major concern for physicians. Fournier mentions 15 to 60 g of bark per liter, one cup before each meal. I have no experience with using the bark.
In terms of precautions.
Ash can sometimes speed up transit and have a mild laxative effect. I have observed this in people with very sensitive and reactive guts.
Ash is contraindicated in cases of renal or cardiac insufficiency, unless your physician agrees that you can take it.
And that’s all I wanted to share about this great medicinal plant of French tradition. A great herb that is found almost everywhere. Be mindful of ecosystem preservation: this consideration is no longer optional today, and ash is threatened by certain fungal infections in some regions, so inform yourself, and take advantage of tree-pruning work to collect leaves from fallen branches.
In any case, if joint problems run in your family, this is a very useful tool if you give it enough time to show what it can do.
Thank you for being here, see you very soon for another episode of TheFrenchHerbal.
