Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Christmas bush is a West African shrub whose leaves are used for loose stools, sore mouths and skin wounds. Its botanical name is Alchornea cordifolia. In Ghana it is known in Twi as gyama.
The plant is a sprawling shrub of riverbanks and forest edges. Healers use the leaves most often. Root, stem bark and young shoots are also used.
Here is the honest verdict. Nearly all the research sits in test tubes and in rodents. There are no good trials in people, so no benefit is proven.
Long use in a tradition tells you that people valued the plant. It is not proof that it works. It is also not proof that it is safe.
No one has shown how this plant acts in the human body.
The leaves hold a lot of tannins. Tannins are astringent, which means they make soft tissue draw tight and weep less. That is the usual reason given for the old use in diarrhoea.
In test tubes, leaf extracts slow the growth of several bacteria and fungi. Some of these germs are linked to gut and skin infections. Whether this happens on a person is not established.
In rodents, leaf extracts have slowed gut movement and reduced swelling. In dish tests, some extracts slow the malaria parasite. Results in dishes and animals often fail to carry over to people.
The plant also holds alkaloids, which are strong plant chemicals. Their effects in people have not been mapped. That is one reason this page treats the plant with care rather than confidence.
Most traditional use is a water brew of fresh or dried leaves.
Common forms include:
A leaf decoction, meaning leaves boiled in water and strained.
Crushed fresh leaf laid on wounds and sores.
A cooled brew used as a mouth rinse or gargle.
Chewing sticks cut from the stem.
Dried leaf powder, sold loose or in capsules.
Tinctures and mixed herbal tonics sold online.
Strength is not fixed in any of these forms. A capsule label and a home brew are not comparable. Mixed tonics raise an extra problem, since you cannot tell how much of each plant is in them.
Christmas bush has a long record across West and Central Africa, including Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Congo basin. Written records of its use go back to colonial-era plant surveys. Oral use is older.
Healers used leaf brews for diarrhoea and dysentery, which means bloody diarrhoea. Crushed leaves were laid on wounds, boils and ulcers. Cooled brews were used as gargles for sore throats and mouth sores.
Other past uses included coughs, chest pain, fevers, and complaints of the womb. In some areas it was given to bring on labour. Modern readers should not copy that use.
The English name comes from the plant's red leaves and fruit late in the year.
Stop using it and see a doctor promptly if any of these happen.
Yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, or pain under your right ribs. These can point to liver trouble.
Passing much less urine than usual, or swelling in your legs.
Diarrhoea that lasts more than two days, has blood in it, or comes with fever.
Signs of fluid loss: a dry mouth, dizziness on standing, or little urine.
A wound that turns red, swollen, hot or leaks pus.
Fever after travel in a malaria area needs same-day testing, not herbs.
In the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, it is not approved as a medicine. Where sold, it is an unlicensed herbal product, and no health claim may be made for it. In Ghana and Nigeria it falls under traditional medicine rules run by the Food and Drugs Authority and NAFDAC.
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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