Handbook of Energy Crops. Uses Ojibwa Indians are said to have made soup from the inner bark of the young twigs. The essential oil is used in cleansers, disinfectants, hair preparations, insecticides, liniment, room sprays, and soft soaps, sometimes an adulterant of oils of artemisia, dalmation sage, and tansy. Wood contains a heat stable antibiotic useful as a food preservative. Potawatomi rolled up the bark into wads which served as torches.
Deer browse the young shoots.
Sometimes grown as a Christmas tree, e.g. in India. Attractive for hedges and windbreaks. Valuable timber tree today, the heartwood lightweight and decay resistant. Used for poles shakes, shingles, and siding. The charcoal, mixed with bear gall, was introduced under the skin, after application, with needles in early Indian acupuncture, which resulted in black tatoos.