Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Salix nigra is a homeopathic remedy made from the bark of the black willow tree. Homeopaths have given it for strong sexual urges, semen release during sleep, and pain in the ovaries or periods. It is a single remedy, so it is made from one source only.
The bark is first soaked in alcohol to make a strong liquid. That liquid is then watered down again and again, step by step. At 30C, so little bark is left that, in practice, none of it remains.
Trials do not show that the diluted remedy works better than a placebo (a dummy pill with no drug in it). Long use in homeopathy is not proof of effect, and we report the two things apart. The mother tincture, which is the strong undiluted liquid, is different: it still holds real willow bark chemicals and can affect the body.
There is no known way that a 30C dilution could act on the body, because almost no source material is left in it. Homeopathy explains the remedy in its own terms, not in terms of chemistry.
The idea behind it is "like cures like". A substance that could cause a symptom in a well person is diluted and shaken, then given for that same symptom. This idea has not been shown to work in trials.
The mother tincture is a separate case. Willow bark holds salicin, which the body turns into a chemical much like aspirin. That is why the strong liquid can thin the blood and upset the stomach.
You will most often see these forms:
- Sugar pellets or pills, sold as 6C, 12C, 30C or 200C - Liquid drops in a water and alcohol base - Mother tincture, the strong undiluted bark extract - Low dilutions such as 1X, 2X or 3X, which still hold bark chemicals
The number and letter tell you how many times the liquid was watered down. A higher number means more dilution, not more strength in the normal sense.
Black willow bark has a long folk record for pain and fever, shared by many cultures. Aspirin was later built on the same family of plant chemicals.
As a homeopathic remedy, Salix nigra came in through American homeopathy in the late 1800s. Writers of that time listed it for sexual overexcitement and for ovary pain. It stayed a minor remedy rather than a first-choice one.
See a doctor if your symptoms are new, getting worse, or have lasted more than two weeks. Also see a doctor for any pelvic pain that is severe, one-sided, or comes with fever, bleeding or feeling sick.
Get urgent help for unusual bruising, bleeding that will not stop, black or tarry stools, or blood in your vomit. Call emergency services for swelling of the face, lips or throat, a rash all over, or trouble breathing.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Salix nigra is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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