Kill the Flu with this Common Backyard Tree

In this video Matthew describes the medicinal uses of the sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua), a plant used in Southern folk medicine for coughs, colds, and flu. Identification of the tree is covered followed by a demonstration of how to harvest sap or "storax".

Next a detailed explanation of this tree's medicinal benefits are given, including the uses of the fruit (gum balls), leaves, and bark. Directions on how to make a tea from the bark and leaves is also shown, as well as how to make a tincture from the gum balls and sap. Matthew's personal dosage information is also included.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:40 Identification
1:22 Sweet gum vs maple
2:04 Sweet gum scientific name (etymology)
2:51 How to harvest sweet gum sap (storax)
7:27 Sweet gum medicinal uses
11:43 How to harvest sweet gum bark
13:41 Sweet gum bark decoction + dosage
15:26 Sweet gum leaf tea + dosage
16:48 Sweet gum ball (fruit) and sap (storax) tincture + dosage
19:28 Sweet gum wildlife uses

[PatriciaTurner-ub]

When I was a child about 3 or 4, my grandmother would put sweetgum bark in a jar and have my dad buy some good whiskey which she poured in the jar and let it sit for several weeks...the alcohol drew out the medicinal properties and she would mix a little of it with lemon juice and a little sugar and give it to me when I had chest colds, which I did each winter...she was part Cherokee and knew so many ways to heal..

[JS-troo]

My people perish for lack of Knowledge Hosea 4:6 Bible Thank you for sharing the knowledge.

[DreadPiratePapa]

I immediately went outside an chewed a green gumball when I felt a cold coming on and was cleared by morning. Lived next to this tree the last 16 years and fought those prickly little bastards every fall and now have a whole new respect for it. Crazy enough I live in Upstate New York but my city neighborhood has trees from all over the world planted in it.

[melaniemiller]

Dude this vid probably just saved the lives of hundreds of SweetGums....😊 reading theu comments i learn even more and read some particularly interesting stories❤

[carolyn]

1. Gumballs placed/piled around the base of hostas discourage slugs from climbing up and eating holes in the plant.
2. Dry, brown gumballs can be used in a campfire or even indoor fireplace..they flame up, then remain for a long time as small coals.
3. As a child, we would spray with paint and sprinkle glitter on gumballs to make pretty little ornaments for our indoor and our outdoor Christmas trees.

[teripage]

I have been an Herbalist for over 24 years and when I make my tinctures I always try to put them in on a full moon and take them off on the following full moon. I have always found doing this always produces a stronger tincture. Thank you for this info on the uses of sweetgum!

[e.t.preppin]

Ditto on basically every comment!!! I’m 60 and all my life I thought they were a nuisance tree and dreaded cleaning them up. Why are we not taught stuff like this in school as kids. I’ve also learned about Mimosa trees medicinal properties too and now am learning about Mullein and stinging Nettles. I’m hooked on learning these age old uses for our ailments seeing how I’ve lost all faith in the pharmaceutical industry after 2020. Especially after Rockefeller destroyed our earthly natural medicines were scrubbed for dangerous petroleum products to replace them with synthetic drugs that keep us sick.

[souledout]

I am a great grandmother . As a child my father would notch the sweet gum trees I our woods . As the sap oozed and started to firm up he’d cut it off the tree and give it to us ( his children) as a treat.

[bobbythornton]

My mother, born in 1918, used sweet gum for toothbrushes as a child. Native Americans taught the early settlers how to use them for treating the flu.

[yuppystick]

You're one of the few people I'd hang out with and never get tired of. Thanks for helping the world. 💚

[jwoltremari]

I found your site a few weeks ago. I'm a 70 year retired and a field biologist educated at Delta State University. I like your presentation and the information is great. Thanks

[tonysweany]

I've always seen the gum tree as a pain, you have opened up my understanding that it just may relieve the pain of my ills, at 70 you can teach an old dog a new formula for natural health 😊

[hkvptactical]

I got divorced at the beginning of the pandemic. I moved from an upscale home with trees that were aesthetic to arguably the worst house in town because it was literally the only place I could buy and fix that wasn’t termite infested and the foundation was sound. I called State Farm to get it insured and they said, “not until the large trees overhanging the house are removed.” So I called a “local tree guy” and paid him $4, 500 to remove the trees (in my absence). However, aside from the insurance issue, there were three trees I wanted removed for personal reasons, that State Farm didn’t care about. One in the front yard particularly because it was this insane tree (I closed the day before Thanksgiving, so Fall) that dropped these incredibly spiked balls the size of golf balls. Honestly, I don’t think man has ever designed a needle as sharp as the spines on these pods! This tree single handedly made the front yard impassable! In the back yard were two of what I’d always called, “the incredible shitting trees”, or Sweetgums.
The tree remover called me and asked if I really wanted the “spike pod” tree removed!? “Oh yeah! Especially that one!”, I replied. He somberly replied, “I’m not sure, but I think it’s an American Chestnut tree.”
“So—cut that sucker down!”
“But the American Chestnut tree is technically considered to be extinct.”
WTH!? Sooo I held off until I could learn more.
I sent the leaves, twigs, and pods off to place designated by the U.S. Forestry Service and sure as day, it was a true American Chestnut! Damn….
Upon my return, I noticed the two “incredible shitting trees” were still there! Now I’m hacked. I called the guy and he said that the power utility would remove those two for free and he was gonna arrange that for me.
“Okay”, I sighed.
I’ve lived here for going on my fifth fall. I’ve learned to “live” with the only three trees I still have. Besides making the best dang Thanksgiving Dressing with the Chestnuts anyone’s ever tasted, now I know this about the other two trees that are a “pain” in the fall.
Sometimes life just has a greater plan…
😉👍👍

[psec_not_good]

My brother, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for the work you do, and for this channel!

There is nothing more valuable than knowledge; especially so when it comes to our health. I showed my father this video and he couldn’t believe that gum trees were so useful. We just assumed it was a junk tree as well!

You can clearly see that you’re only in this business of spreading knowledge for one reason: to proliferate that knowledge of medicinal plants. No needless profiteering of the material, no courses being sold for the in depth info, no hokey-pokey BS, just concise, clear, and consequential learning!

The world needs more people like you, so thank you again for all the hard work and dedication to spreading awareness of the majesty and utility of nature.

[hollywoodify]

When I was a kid my dad taught me to gather up sweet gum balls in a pile and burn them and create really hot coals then we would catch fish pack them in gumbo mud and place them in the hot coals when the gumbo turned almost white we would take it out of the fire and score along the edge of the gumbo cracking open the inside of the gumbo and the fish would be steamed cooked and usually the scales or the skin would protect the meat from the dirt and you could pull the bones right out add salt and pepper and eat it. It was great for survival and another tool to throw in your survival bag

[speaker]

when you cut into any tree, once you are done using it as a resource you can cover its wound with mud to help it stay protected while it heals! I learned this from Dave Canterbury, but as he says there's not much new in the world of bushcraft, so this method has probably been used for a very long time!

[Peachy]

I call it the Lego tree! Stepping on those gumballs is as bad as stepping on a lego!😮

[MadelineHarris]

I live in west central Alabama literally in the middle of nowhere way back in the woods... I've lived here all my life and I can promise you that the ivory-billed woodpecker is most definitely absolutely not extinct lol they're literally everywhere at least in west central Alabama. and no I'm not a dummy I'm not confusing the pileated woodpecker for the ivory-billed. I'm seriously like the literal definition of a country girl lol I grew up in these woods playing, hunting & fishing since I was old enough to walk.

[anyascelticcreations]

I think they're antiparasitic too. One of my former dogs had a resistant case of intestinal parasites. She couldn't get enough of chewing on the gumballs. They also make excellent cat toys. Lol. Mine love them.

[debradieckman]

You saved our tree! I was wanting to cut it down but my husband was hesitant and now I don't want to cut it down! I SO appreciate you showing how to use locally grown plants. It is a NEEDED subject. We always think the plants from elsewhere or bought from a well know herb supplier is the best. I learned alot from your free guide, thank you! Will you be doing more classes?