Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Robinia pseudacacia is a single homeopathic remedy — one drug, not a blend — made from the black locust tree. Its Latin name is Robinia pseudoacacia, and it is also known as yellow locust or black locust. Homeopaths use it mainly for sour stomach: burning heartburn, acid rising into the throat, and vomiting of sour fluid.
The remedy is made by soaking fresh bark or young shoots in alcohol, then diluting that liquid over and over, shaking it at each step. This is called serial dilution. At the common strength of 30C, essentially none of the original plant remains in the pellet or drop you take.
Here is the honest verdict up front: trial evidence does not separate homeopathic remedies from placebo (a dummy treatment), and no human trial of Robinia itself has been published. Long use inside a tradition is not proof that something works. This page reports the tradition and the evidence as two separate things.
Homeopathy runs on an idea, not a proven mechanism. The idea is that a substance which causes symptoms in a healthy person can, once heavily diluted, prompt the body to correct those same symptoms in a sick person.
Raw black locust bark causes nausea, sour vomiting, stomach burning and weakness. Homeopaths therefore match diluted Robinia to people whose main complaint is sour vomiting and acid heartburn.
No accepted physical or chemical explanation supports this. At 30C there is essentially no source material left to act on the body. Benefit that people report may come from placebo, from natural recovery, or from other changes they made at the same time.
You will usually meet Robinia as small sugar pellets or as liquid drops in alcohol.
Typical over-the-counter potencies are 6C, 12C and 30C, and sometimes 6X or 30X. Higher potencies such as 200C are normally given by a practitioner. Robinia also turns up inside combination acid-stomach products alongside other remedies.
Mother tincture and very low decimal potencies are made from the raw bark and are practitioner-only. Keep pellets away from heat and strong smells, and tip them from the cap rather than handling them, which is the usual traditional advice.
Black locust is a North American tree, widely planted for timber and for its scented white flowers.
Robinia entered homeopathic practice in the United States in the mid-1800s, after provings — the homeopathic practice of giving a substance to healthy volunteers and writing down what they feel. It has stayed in homeopathic reference books ever since as a smaller remedy for hyperacidity (too much stomach acid).
Its standing sits inside homeopathy only. Herbalists do not use black locust internally, because the raw plant is poisonous.
See a doctor if heartburn keeps coming back, wakes you at night, or has lasted more than two weeks despite treatment.
Go the same day if you have trouble swallowing, are losing weight without trying, are vomiting repeatedly, or have pain that spreads into your back.
Call emergency services if you vomit blood, pass black tarry stools, or have chest pain with sweating, breathlessness or pain spreading to the jaw or arm. Also seek urgent care if anyone has eaten part of a black locust tree or swallowed undiluted tincture.
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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