Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Stool wood is the bark of Alstonia boonei, a tall West African forest tree. In Ghana its Twi name is nyamedua, which means "God's tree". The bark is harshly bitter and the cut tree bleeds a milky sap.
Healers across West Africa boiled the bark in water for fever, malaria, aches and swelling. The timber is light and soft, so carvers use it for stools, drums and masks. That carving use gives the tree its English name.
The honest verdict on evidence: nearly all of it comes from test tubes and rodents. Well run human trials are missing. Long traditional use shows that people valued this bark, but it is not proof that it works or that it is safe.
No one has shown in people how stool wood works, or that it works at all.
In test tubes, bark extracts slow the growth of the malaria parasite. In rodents, extracts have lowered fever and reduced pain behaviour and swelling. These are early signals, not proof of a human effect.
Lab work points to the bark's alkaloids, above all echitamine. In cell studies these compounds appear to damp down signals that drive inflammation. Animal work also suggests effects on blood pressure and heart rate.
The gap matters. A plant that calms swelling in a mouse may do nothing useful in you. The right amount, how much your gut absorbs, and safety in humans are all unknown.
Most people meet stool wood as dried bark, sold loose or in chunks.
Common forms: - Dried or powdered bark, boiled to make a decoction (a strong water extract) - Bark pieces sold in West African markets - Capsules and tinctures from herbal suppliers - Mixed herbal syrups and "bitters" sold in Ghana and Nigeria - Fresh latex and leaves, used locally
Mixed products are the hard ones. A bitters blend may hold ten plants, and the label may not give amounts. You cannot tell how much alstonia you are swallowing.
Outside West Africa, supply is patchy. Bark is sometimes mislabelled or swapped for other Alstonia species. Independent testing is rare.
Alstonia boonei holds a long and well documented place in West African healing and belief.
The Twi name nyamedua means "God's tree". Many communities treated it as sacred, and shrines and stools were carved from its wood. Healers in Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire used the bark widely.
Recorded traditional uses included: - Fever and malaria - Body pain and rheumatism (joint pain and stiffness) - Swelling, boils and wounds - Snakebite - Care after childbirth, including raising milk supply
These are records of what people did. They are not instructions for you to copy at home. Traditional healers worked with local knowledge of the plant, the dose and the person in front of them.
Stop and see a doctor if you get yellow eyes or skin, dark urine, or pain under your right ribs. These can point to liver trouble.
Get urgent help for fainting, a very slow or pounding pulse, or trouble breathing.
See a doctor the same day if a fever lasts more than 24 hours, or if you have been in a malaria area. Do not wait on a herb to clear a fever.
In Ghana and Nigeria the bark is sold openly, and herbal products containing it are registered with the national regulators. In the UK, EU, US, Canada and Australia it is not approved as a medicine. It may appear as a herbal ingredient, which means no authority has checked that it works.
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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