Pau D’Arco Bark (Tabebuia avellanedae/Tabebuia impetiginosa)

Latin Name: Tabebuia impetiginosa or Tabebuia avellanedae

Common Name: Pau D’Arco, Ipe Roxo, Lapacho, Taheebo

One of the best known, but least understood, herbs from the Amazon Rainforest, pau d’arco is a key ingredient in the tribal medicine chest. The pau d’arco tree is a huge canopy tree that grows up to 125 feet high, with pink to violet colored flowers. Its history of use is thought to go back to the Incas, and several tribes have been using it to make bows for centuries. Several native names in fact mean “bow stick” or “bow stem”.

Lapachol, lapachone, and isolapachone are the best studied chemical compounds in pau d’arco, although most herbal practitioners attribute the healing power of the herb to its tannins.

Pau d’arco is said to cleanse the blood and body and stimulate the immune system and the production of red blood cells. It is an analgesic, an antioxidant, an anti-parasitic, an antimicrobial an antiviral, an anti-inflammatory, an antibacterial, an anti-fungal, an astringent and a laxative.