Glossy buckthorn (frangual alnus) is a tall deciduous shrub native to Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. Glossy buckthorn (also called alder buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, or breaking buckthorn) has only taken root in North America within the last 200 years. Forming dense stands that shade out other plants, glossy buckthorn has invaded wetlands in the Midwest. While glossy buckthorn is a relative newcomer to this continent, within it’s native range, there is a historical precedence for its use. Glossy buckthorns’s abundance and aggression may offer an opportunity to improve our local ecologies while harvesting a useful product. By discovering the historical uses of glossy buckthorn and by developing our own novel uses, we may be able to put a greater dent in it’s population. How could you go wrong harvesting glossy buckthorn? The more you cut the better off our wetlands are.
Note: Care should be taken to actually kill the plant when it’s harvested. Glossy buckthorn has historically been coppiced. This means it was cut at the ground to promote regrowth providing a continual harvest from the same shrub. Without an application of herbicide to the cut stump, the shrub will simply sprout and regrow. I would be interested to know if defoliating glossy buckthorn in the summer would kill it.
Historic Uses
Gun Powder
Glossy buckthorn was once prized for it’s use in making gunpowder. The charcoal created from glossy buckthorn yields a more violent explosion than other woods when used in gunpowder. I have included two historical references to the use of glossy buckthorn in gunpowder manufacturing below. While I’m not sure how useful this is, it’s interesting to know.
Dye
Glossy buckthorn and similar species have also been used to dye textiles and leather across it’s native range. According to The industries of the world, a course of technical education, The berries produce a “sap green” color dye while the bark produces a yellow dye (J. Wylde. 1881).
Medicine
The bark of glossy buckthorn has been used to induce vomiting and as a laxative. When used as a laxative, the bark is dried for a year making it more mild (Chevallier, A. 2016). Buckthorn bark can even be bought on Amazon.
Future Potential
Biochar
The enormous amount of woody biomass created by glossy buckthron offers an exciting opportunity to create biochar. Charcoal has been used as a soil amendment in the Amazon for thousands of years. It’s use has led to the creation of Terra Preta, an extremely nutrient rich and biologically active topsoil (Mann 2006). The use of biochar also offers an opportunity to sequester carbon. Because charcoal is mostly pure carbon, the atmospheric carbon captured by the plant as it grows is held in the soil when used as a soil amendment. Charcoal production has historically been a dirty and polluting affair. The use of a homemade charcoal retort solves this problem by recycling the volatile gasses produced. The USDA also has information on Biochar.
Firewood
As fossil fuel use declines, the use of biomass for home heating will increase. Glossy buckthorn may be of use. I have not been able to find glossy buckthorn’s BTU rating, but some people online claim it burns extremely hot. This would be great for masonry heaters that burn wood at higher temperatures than traditional wood stoves to achieve a cleaner more complete burn. People who use a rocket mass heater may find it more convenient to burn small diameter round wood because it does not need to be split to fit in a small burn chamber. There is a historical precedence for burning coppiced wood across England. Those interested in burning small diameter round wood may find inspiration in the English tradition.
Animal Fodder
In 2019 Steve Gabriel (author and farmer) was awarded a SARE grant to develop a management guide for the use of tree fodder. He came to some interesting conclusion related to glossy buckthorn. Of the trees studies, the crude protein content of glossy buckthorn was second only to black locust (well known for it’s high protein content). While black locust contains 23.61% crude protein, glossy buckthorn has a respectable 18.35% protein. Glossy buckthorn also offers nutrients that are typically lacking in traditional forage. Gabriel found that, of the trees he studies, calcium levels were highest in glossy buckthorn and honeysuckle (Gabriel 2019). I wonder if calcium levels would be even higher in buckthorn plants harvested from wetlands with basic soil such as fens. Considering that people using tree fodder need to be considerate of when and how much is harvested in order to avoid damaging the tree, I wonder if domestic animals could be used to kill glossy buckthorn by purposely overgrazing buckthorn stands. Goats may work well for this because, compared to other grazers, they prefer forage from trees. Even if a landscape is not suited to have livestock on it, buckthorn could be cut and carried to the animal.
Conclusion
Glossy buckthorn presents a real threat to out native ecosystems. I hope that by shining a light on its possible uses, I have offered a creative way to approach ecological restoration. Maybe this will offer an incentive for those interested in using glossy buckthorn to partner with private land owners who lack the resources or desire to remove glossy buckthorn. I also hope to inspire others to look into nearby invasives and their traditional used. Imagine all the garlic mustard pesto we’ll have!
Sources
Brown, J., Nisbet, J. (1894). The Forester: A Practical Treatise on the Planting and Tending of Forest Trees and the General Management of Woodland Estates. United Kingdom: William Blackwood and Sons.
Chevallier, A. (2016). Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine: 550 Herbs and Remedies for Common Ailments. United Kingdom: DK Publishing.
Gabriel, S. (2019). Progress report for FNE19-930 – SARE Grant Management System. Projects.Sare.Org. https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fne19-930/
Mann, C. C. (2006). 1491. United Kingdom: Vintage Books.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and General Literature. (1890). United States: R.S. Peale.
The industries of the world, a course of technical education, ed. by J. Wylde. (1881). United Kingdom: (n.p.).