THIS IS FOR A SCIENCE REPORT DUE TOMORROW. BIG!! just one simple simple question?

Question

What are the willow plant's medicinal properties? EXPLAIN.
thanks to anyone who answers. u ROCK dudes (and dudettes)

Answer 1

Medicinal uses of Salix or Willow ---

The bark of the willow tree has been mentioned in ancient texts from Assyria, Sumer and Egypt as a remedy for aches and fever, and the Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about its medicinal properties in the 5th century BC. Native Americans across the American continent relied on it as a staple of their medical treatments.

The active extract of the bark, called salicin, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicin is acidic when in a saturated solution in water (pH = 2.4), and is called salicylic acid for that reason.

In 1897 Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin (in his case derived from the Spiraea plant), which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally Acetylsalicylic acid, was named aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Answer 2

Willow tree bark is the source of aspirin.Acetlysalicyclic acid, the main ingredient in all aspirin compounds found today, is a derivative from the group of drugs known as the Salicylates, whose origins lies in the naturally occurring compound salicin.

It was discovered by the Greeks, around the fifth century B.C., that a substance in the bark of the willow tree, we now know as salicin, could relieve pain.

Originally the Greeks used the bark of the white willow tree, Salix alba, as their source of salicin. Willow trees, like the tree in the picture opposite, are very distinctive with their drooping branches and common occurance near places of permanent water, such as rivers, creeks, lakes and the like.

Last century, when the interest in salicin and its derivatives increased, it was found that there were many different naturally occuring sources of salicin in the plant kingdom.

Salicin can be readily found in a number of different plants, ranging from large trees to shrubs and ornamental flowers. The presence of salicin has been documented to occur in:

* Willow trees, both the bark and the leaves.
* Oil of wintergreen
* Sweet Birch
* A variety of rose.

As well as spirea plants, where part of the name aspirin is derived from.

Answer 3

Willow bark contains the same active ingridient that you find in Aspirin : acetylsalicylic acid. Its medical properties were known since Hippocrates.

Answer 4

They contain salicil used against fever (see my link)