Bearberry
Encyclopedia
Bearberries are three species of dwarf shrub
s in the genus Arctostaphylos
. Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos (see Manzanita
), they are adapted to Arctic
and sub-Arctic climates, and have a circumpolar
distribution in northern North America
, Asia
and Europe
, one with a small highly disjunctive population in Central America
.
s. The fruit, also called bearberries, are edible and sometimes gathered for food. The leaves of the plant are used in herbal medicine.
Other recorded old English common names include Arberry, Bear's Grape, Crowberry, Foxberry, Hog Cranberry, Kinnikinnick, Mealberry, Mountain Box, Mountain Cranberry, Mountain Tobacco, Sandberry, Upland Cranberry, Uva-ursi.
The plant contains arbutin
, ursolic acid
, tannic acid
, gallic acid
, some essential oil
and resin
, hydroquinone
s (mainly arbutin, up to 17%), tannin
s (up to 15%), phenolic glycosides and flavonoid
s.
The leaves are picked any time during the summer and dried for use in infusions, liquid extracts, medicinal tea bags and tablets believed to be potentially effective in folk medicine
.
Bearberry is relatively safe, although large doses may cause nausea, green urine, bluish-grey skin, vomiting, fever, chills, severe back pain, ringing in the ears (some people can withstand up to 20g and others show signs of poisoning after just 1g); take no more than 7–10 days at a time.
It should not be used by people who are pregnant, breast feeding, nor in the treatment of children (under 12) and patients with kidney disease. Drug interactions have been recorded with diuretic
s, as well as drugs that make the urine acidic (such as ascorbic acid and Urex).
Despite these extensive applications in folk medicine, there is no scientific evidence that any of them are effective.
herbal
, it was also described by Clusius in 1601, and recommended for medicinal use in 1763 by Gerhard
and others. Often called uva-ursi, from the Latin uva, "grape, berry of the vine", ursi, "bear", i.e. "bear's grape". It first appeared in the London Pharmacopoeia in 1788, though it probably was in use long before.
In Strathnairn, Scotland there is a hill, known as Brin Mains, but which is known in Scottish Gaelic as "Cnoc nan Cnàimhseag" which means "The hill of the Bearberries".
Marco Polo
reported in 13th century that the Chinese were using it as a diuretic, to treat kidney and urinary problems. Bearberry leaves are used medicinally in parts of Europe, and are officially classified as a phytomedicine (medicinal herb).
Native Americans
use bearberry leaves with tobacco
and other herbs in religious ceremonies; both as a smudge (type of incense) or smoked in a sacred pipe, it carries the smoker's prayers to the Great Spirit. When mixed with tobacco
or other herbs, it is referred to as kinnikinnick
, from an Algonquian
(probably Delaware) word for "mixture". Among the ingredients in kinnikinnick, they used non-poisonous sumac
leaves, and the inner bark of certain bushes such as red osier dogwood (silky cornell), chokecherry
, and alder
, to improve the taste of the bearberry
leaf.
Native Americans used bearberry tea to treat inflammation of the urinary tract, urethritis, kidney stones, and cystitis. The Cheyenne
use the tea to treat back sprains. Some Native American tribes powder the leaves and apply them to sores. Other tribes drink it to treat venereal diseases. The berries are also made into a tea that is used to ward off obesity. Early European settlers in the Americas used the leaves taken internally as an astringent to treat nephritis, kidney stones and other diseases of the urinary system.
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s in the genus Arctostaphylos
Arctostaphylos
Arctostaphylos is a genus of plants comprised by the manzanitas and bearberries. They are shrubs or small trees.There are about 60 species of Arctostaphylos, ranging from ground-hugging arctic, coastal, and mountain species to small trees up to 6 m tall. Most are evergreen , with small oval...
. Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos (see Manzanita
Manzanita
Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from southern British Columbia, Washington to California, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and...
), they are adapted to Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
and sub-Arctic climates, and have a circumpolar
Circumpolar
The term circumpolar may refer to:* circumpolar navigation: to travel the world "vertically" traversing both of the poles* Antarctic region** Antarctic Circle** the Antarctic Circumpolar Current** Subantarctic** List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands...
distribution in northern North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, one with a small highly disjunctive population in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
.
Species
The name bearberry derives from the edible fruit said to be consumed by bearBear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s. The fruit, also called bearberries, are edible and sometimes gathered for food. The leaves of the plant are used in herbal medicine.
- Alpine BearberryAlpine BearberryArctostaphylos alpina is a procumbent shrub 10-30 cm high. Leaves are clearly toothed and the edges are not downturned. They often turn red in autumn and are not winter green, but dead leaves can persist on stems for several years...
- A. alpina (L.) Spreng (syn. Arctous alpinus (L.) Niedenzu). A procumbent shrub 10–30 cm high. Leaves not winter green, but dead leaves persist on stems for several years. Berries dark purple to black. Distribution: circumpolar, at high latitudes, from ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
east across ScandinaviaScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and GreenlandGreenlandGreenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
; southern limits in Europe in the PyreneesPyreneesThe Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
and the AlpsAlpsThe Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
, in Asia to the Altay MountainsAltay MountainsThe Altai Mountains are a mountain range in East-Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. The Altai Mountains are known as the original locus of the speakers of Turkic as well as other members of the proposed...
, and in North America to British ColumbiaBritish ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in the west, and MaineMaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and New HampshireNew HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the east. - Red Bearberry - A. rubra (Rehd. & Wilson) Fernald (syn. Arctous rubra (Rehder and E.H. Wilson) Nakai; Arctous alpinus var. ruber Rehd. and Wilson). A procumbent shrub 10–30 cm high. Leaves deciduousDeciduousDeciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
, falling in autumn to leave bare stems. Berries red. Distribution: in the mountains of SichuanSichuan' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
, southwestern ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
north and east to eastern SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and northern CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
east to northern QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. - Common BearberryArctostaphylos uva-ursiArctostaphylos uva-ursi, with names for this species including Kinnikinnick and Pinemat manzanita, one of several related species referred to as Bearberry...
- A. uva-ursi (L.) Spreng.
Other recorded old English common names include Arberry, Bear's Grape, Crowberry, Foxberry, Hog Cranberry, Kinnikinnick, Mealberry, Mountain Box, Mountain Cranberry, Mountain Tobacco, Sandberry, Upland Cranberry, Uva-ursi.
Uses in folk medicine
Arbutin
Arbutin is both an ether and a glycoside; a glycosylated hydroquinone extracted from bearberry plant in the genus Arctostaphylos. It inhibits tyrosinase and thus prevents the formation of melanin. Arbutin is therefore used as a skin-lightening agent. Arbutin is found in wheat, and is concentrated...
, ursolic acid
Ursolic acid
Ursolic acid is a pentacyclic triterpene acid, used in cosmetics, that is also capable of inhibiting various types of cancer cells by inhibiting the STAT3 activation pathway and human fibrosarcoma cells by reducing the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 by acting through the glucocorticoid...
, tannic acid
Tannic acid
Tannic acid is a specific commercial form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure...
, gallic acid
Gallic acid
Gallic acid is a trihydroxybenzoic acid, a type of phenolic acid, a type of organic acid, also known as 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid, found in gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves, oak bark, and other plants. The chemical formula is C6H23COOH. Gallic acid is found both free and as part of...
, some essential oil
Essential oil
An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils or aetherolea, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove...
and resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
, hydroquinone
Hydroquinone
Hydroquinone, also benzene-1,4-diol or quinol, is an aromatic organic compound that is a type of phenol, having the chemical formula C6H42. Its chemical structure, shown in the table at right, has two hydroxyl groups bonded to a benzene ring in a para position. It is a white granular solid...
s (mainly arbutin, up to 17%), tannin
Tannin
A tannin is an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.The term tannin refers to the use of...
s (up to 15%), phenolic glycosides and flavonoid
Flavonoid
Flavonoids , are a class of plant secondary metabolites....
s.
The leaves are picked any time during the summer and dried for use in infusions, liquid extracts, medicinal tea bags and tablets believed to be potentially effective in folk medicine
Folk medicine
-Description:Refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.All cultures and societies...
.
Bearberry is relatively safe, although large doses may cause nausea, green urine, bluish-grey skin, vomiting, fever, chills, severe back pain, ringing in the ears (some people can withstand up to 20g and others show signs of poisoning after just 1g); take no more than 7–10 days at a time.
It should not be used by people who are pregnant, breast feeding, nor in the treatment of children (under 12) and patients with kidney disease. Drug interactions have been recorded with diuretic
Diuretic
A diuretic provides a means of forced diuresis which elevates the rate of urination. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from bodies, although each class does so in a distinct way.- Medical uses :...
s, as well as drugs that make the urine acidic (such as ascorbic acid and Urex).
Despite these extensive applications in folk medicine, there is no scientific evidence that any of them are effective.
History and folklore
Bearberry was first documented in The Physicians of Myddfai, a 13th century WelshWales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
herbal
Herbal
AThe use of a or an depends on whether or not herbal is pronounced with a silent h. herbal is "a collection of descriptions of plants put together for medicinal purposes." Expressed more elaborately — it is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their...
, it was also described by Clusius in 1601, and recommended for medicinal use in 1763 by Gerhard
Gerhard
Gerhard is the professional name of Canadian artist known for the elaborately detailed background illustrations in the comics series Cerebus the Aardvark.-Biography:...
and others. Often called uva-ursi, from the Latin uva, "grape, berry of the vine", ursi, "bear", i.e. "bear's grape". It first appeared in the London Pharmacopoeia in 1788, though it probably was in use long before.
In Strathnairn, Scotland there is a hill, known as Brin Mains, but which is known in Scottish Gaelic as "Cnoc nan Cnàimhseag" which means "The hill of the Bearberries".
Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
reported in 13th century that the Chinese were using it as a diuretic, to treat kidney and urinary problems. Bearberry leaves are used medicinally in parts of Europe, and are officially classified as a phytomedicine (medicinal herb).
Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
use bearberry leaves with tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and other herbs in religious ceremonies; both as a smudge (type of incense) or smoked in a sacred pipe, it carries the smoker's prayers to the Great Spirit. When mixed with tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
or other herbs, it is referred to as kinnikinnick
Kinnikinnick
Kinnikinnick is a Native American smoking product, typically made of mixture of various leaves or barks with other plant materials.-Etymology:...
, from an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
(probably Delaware) word for "mixture". Among the ingredients in kinnikinnick, they used non-poisonous sumac
Sumac
Sumac is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America....
leaves, and the inner bark of certain bushes such as red osier dogwood (silky cornell), chokecherry
Chokecherry
Prunus virginiana, commonly called chokecherry, bitter-berry, or Virginia bird cherry, is a species of bird cherry native to North America, where it is found almost throughout the continent except for the Deep South and the far north.-Growth:It is a suckering shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall...
, and alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
, to improve the taste of the bearberry
Bearberry
Bearberries are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus Arctostaphylos. Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos , they are adapted to Arctic and sub-Arctic climates, and have a circumpolar distribution in northern North America, Asia and Europe, one with a small highly disjunctive population...
leaf.
Native Americans used bearberry tea to treat inflammation of the urinary tract, urethritis, kidney stones, and cystitis. The Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
use the tea to treat back sprains. Some Native American tribes powder the leaves and apply them to sores. Other tribes drink it to treat venereal diseases. The berries are also made into a tea that is used to ward off obesity. Early European settlers in the Americas used the leaves taken internally as an astringent to treat nephritis, kidney stones and other diseases of the urinary system.