Medicinal Tree Bark and Herb Roots (Live Webinar)

Two live evenings with Anne Stobart on harvesting and preparing medicinal bark and roots.

Most of us learn medicinal plants from the top down, starting with the leaves and flowers we can pick without a spade or a knife.

Bark and roots tend to get left out. They take more effort to harvest and are harder to understand, yet they've been central to herbal medicine for centuries. Herbalists were once known as root diggers.

They're also less forgiving. Harvest them at the wrong time or prepare them the wrong way and you lose much of what you were after. Some toxic plants are hardest to tell apart once their roots are out of the ground.

What's covered in these sessions

Session 1: Medicinal tree bark.
Monday 9 November, 6.30 to 7.30pm (UK time)

• When to harvest bark, which tools to use, and whether inner or outer bark matters
• Native trees and shrubs, including oak, willow, birch, cherry, pine and buckthorn
• Garden and park species from North America, such as witch hazel and prickly ash
• Using bark for joint pain, skin complaints and pain management
• Making decoctions and infusions with fresh bark, and drying, powdering and hand-filling capsules
• Constituents, dosage and interactions with other medicines, and when to seek further advice
• Growing your own bark through pruning, coppicing and pollarding

Session 2: Medicinal herb roots.
Monday 16 November, 6.30 to 7.30pm (UK time)

• Harvesting roots at the right time, and drying them for the best quality and longest shelf life
• Identifying plants accurately and avoiding toxic roots
• Burdock and dock, the traditional cleansing roots
• The warming and cooling roots: elecampane, horseradish and marshmallow
• What clinical research says, including valerian for sleep
• Making root syrups and tinctures that keep for several years
• Introduced species worth growing here, such as Oregon grape and Siberian ginseng, plus ginger and turmeric at home (technically rhizomes)

What makes this different

Most herbal books give bark and roots a line or two. They tell you what a plant is used for and leave out how to get the remedy out of it.

With bark and roots, that's most of the work. Roots need digging when their key constituents are concentrated. Bark has to be simmered as a decoction, because steeping it like a leaf tea leaves much of it behind. These sessions give you step-by-step recipes for both, with the reasons behind each step.

Anne teaches from direct experience. She grew and harvested the trees, shrubs and herbs she talks about at Holt Wood Herbs, the medicinal forest garden she co-founded in Devon. She also directed the clinical herbal practitioner programme at Middlesex University. Both sessions set traditional use alongside what the research shows.

Safety is part of every remedy discussed, including doses and how these plants interact with other medicines. Anne will also tell you when a remedy is a job for a practitioner.

Who this is for

This IS for you if:

• You want to understand how bark and root remedies work as well as what they're used for
• You'd like to forage trees and shrubs for medicine and harvest them properly, or grow a wider range of medicinal plants
• You're interested in herbal approaches to constipation, poor sleep, stress, infections and skin complaints such as eczema
• You want to dry and store bark and roots well, and make syrups and tinctures that last
• You want to be sure you're using the right species, safely

This is NOT for you if:

• You want a list of plants for ailments without understanding how they work
• You're looking for a food foraging course. These sessions are about medicine.

What you'll get

Both sessions run from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, UK time.

Session 1: Monday 9 November 2026
Session 2: Monday 16 November 2026

• Two live sessions on Zoom of one hour each, including questions from attendees
• Recordings of both sessions with the Q&A included, so you can catch up if you miss a live date
• Downloadable PDFs with notes, key herbs and practical advice
• Two years' access to the recordings and notes, so you can come back when you need a refresher
• Streams in your browser on your phone, tablet, laptop or desktop

Book your place

Learn to take bark and roots from the ground to a remedy you can use with confidence.

£30 for both sessions (incl. VAT)

About Anne Stobart

Anne Stobart is a medical herbalist, author, herb grower and historical researcher.

She directed the clinical herbal practitioner programme at Middlesex University and has published three books on medicinal plants, including Trees and Shrubs That Heal (Permanent Publications, 2023).

She co-founded Holt Wood Herbs, a medicinal forest garden project in Devon, where she grew and harvested the plants she teaches about.

Anne presents these sessions in collaboration with Robin Harford of Eatweeds.