Abies Nigra

The gum of the North American black spruce, traditionally used in homoeopathy for indigestion felt as a hard lump in the stomach after eating.

Abies nigra is the black spruce, now named Picea mariana, a slender evergreen conifer of the cold bogs and forests of Canada and the northern United States. It has short, bluish-green needles and small purple cones that ripen brown. Homoeopathy prepares its remedy from the gum, or resin, of the tree.

Its traditional sphere is the stomach. Homoeopaths turn to it when every meal is followed by a feeling as if a hard-boiled egg were stuck at the top of the stomach, with belching and constipation. It is associated with indigestion in older people and after tea or tobacco, with no appetite in the morning but real hunger at noon and night.

• Lump after eating
• Indigestion in later life
• Belching
• Poor morning appetite
• Constipation