Plant

Slippery elm

Ulmus rubra

Also known as: red elm, Indian elm, Ulmus rubra

A medium-sized tree native to eastern and central North America, distinguished from American elm by its rougher gray-brown bark, larger and rougher leaves, and the inner bark's distinctively mucilaginous quality (the source of the 'slippery' common name). The dried inner bark is the medicinal portion: a foundational Western herbalism demulcent — soothing to irritated mucous membranes throughout the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. Foundational use across multiple Indigenous nations (Cherokee, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Anishinaabe) for centuries before European contact, continued through Eclectic medicine and modern herbalism. The species has been substantially impacted by Dutch elm disease since the 1930s; sustainable bark harvest practices (felling rather than girdling, harvesting from already-dying trees) are essential to the species' long-term continuity.

Scientific / medicinal

Ulmus rubra is in the Ulmaceae. The medicinal portion is the inner bark (cambium and inner phloem layers), harvested in spring when the bark slips easily from the wood. Dried and powdered, the inner bark forms the foundation of slippery elm preparations.

Active components: mucilage (the principal active constituent — long-chain polysaccharides that form a slippery gel when mixed with water), tannins (astringent compounds), flavonoids, sterols.

Documented and traditional uses:

Gastrointestinal soothing. The principal modern use. The mucilage coats and soothes irritated gut mucosa, supporting recovery from gastritis, peptic ulcers, esophageal reflux, and inflammatory bowel conditions. Slippery elm is a foundational ingredient in modern gut-healing herbal protocols.
Sore throat / cough. Traditional and continuing use as a throat-soothing demulcent — slippery elm lozenges remain widely available commercial products. Effective for dry hacking cough and inflamed sore throat.
External poultice. Traditional Indigenous use for wound and burn poultices; the mucilage forms a soothing protective layer over damaged tissue.
Nutritional gruel for the very ill or recovering. Slippery elm gruel (the powdered bark stirred into warm water with honey) is a foundational traditional food for people unable to tolerate normal nutrition during illness recovery.

Cultural / Conservation

Slippery elm has been used medicinally across many eastern North American Indigenous nations for centuries before European contact — Cherokee, Haudenosaunee, [[lenape|Lenape]], Anishinaabe, and many others. The species is one of the foundational medicinal plants of the eastern woodland Indigenous medicinal tradition.

The species has been substantially impacted by Dutch elm disease (an invasive fungal pathogen first arrived in North America in 1928) — though slippery elm is somewhat more disease-resistant than American elm and continues to persist across most of its native range. Sustainable harvest practices are important: felling the entire tree (rather than girdling, which kills the tree without producing usable bark) and prioritizing harvest from already-dying or storm-damaged trees.

The Cherokee and other Indigenous nations have continuous traditional knowledge of harvest practices that minimize impact on standing populations. [[united-plant-savers|United Plant Savers]] includes slippery elm on its at-risk medicinal-plant watch list.

What links here, and how

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Scientific

cousin of

Elm auto-linked via shared tag: kin

1 inbound link · 3 outbound

Scientific / medicinal

Cultural / Conservation

See also

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