Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Alchornea cordifolia is a large shrub that grows across tropical Africa. English speakers often call it Christmas bush. Healers have used its leaves, bark and roots for generations.
It is best known as a folk remedy for the gut and the skin. Leaf teas were taken for diarrhoea and stomach pain. Leaf washes and poultices were put on wounds, sores and infected skin.
Almost all the research is lab work on cells, bacteria and animals. Good human trials are very few. Long traditional use is not proof that a plant works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
So the honest verdict is simple. This plant has a strong traditional record and a weak human evidence record. If you are treating an infection, a wound that is spreading, or a fever that could be malaria, it is not a stand-in for medical care.
No one has shown in people how this plant works, or whether it works at all.
In test tubes, leaf extracts slow the growth of several bacteria and fungi. Lab work also points to some activity against the malaria parasite. Whether any of that happens inside the body is unknown.
The leaves are rich in tannins. Tannins bind to proteins and make raw tissue feel tight and dry. That may be why traditional washes seemed to help weeping sores, but it has not been tested well in people.
In animal studies, extracts have eased gut cramps and reduced swelling. Animal doses are often very high. They do not translate into a safe human amount.
Some rat studies report lower blood sugar after dosing. This is early work and has not been repeated in people.
Take all of this as a reason to study the plant, not as a reason to trust it.
Most use is of the raw plant, not a packaged product.
Common forms: - Dried leaf, boiled into a tea or decoction - Fresh leaf, crushed into a poultice for skin - Bark or root decoction - Gargles and mouth rinses made from leaf water - Tinctures, powders and capsules sold online - Soaps and creams that list the leaf extract
There is no agreed strength and no standard extract. Two products with the same label can be very different.
Mislabelling is a real risk with imported herbs. Related species, such as Alchornea floribunda, are not the same plant and have a different reputation.
The plant has a long, well documented place in African folk medicine. Surveys record its use in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and the Congo basin.
Healers used leaf decoctions for diarrhoea, dysentery and stomach pain. Fresh leaves were applied to wounds, boils and ulcers on the skin. Twigs were chewed to clean the teeth.
Leaf washes were also used for sore throats, coughs and eye complaints. Some traditional birth attendants gave it after childbirth. That last use is not one this page supports in any form.
It appears in modern African ethnobotany lists and in regional herbal pharmacopoeias. That records what people did. It does not test whether it helped.
Stop using it and see a doctor if any of these happen: - Your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow - Your urine turns dark, or you pass very little - You get a rash, hives, or swelling of the lips or tongue - A wound becomes hot, red, swollen or starts to leak pus - Diarrhoea lasts more than two days, or has blood in it - You feel faint, very thirsty or stop passing urine - A fever climbs or will not break
Get emergency help for trouble breathing or swelling of the throat.
In the United States it would fall under dietary supplement rules, meaning it is not reviewed for safety or effect before sale. In the UK and EU it is not an approved herbal medicine and is not sold with a traditional herbal registration. Across much of West and Central Africa it is sold freely as a market herb.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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