Bearberry

Parts Usually Used

Leaves

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Trailing or prostrate evergreen shrub with mats of leafy stems; bark fine-hairy. Leaves shiny-leathery, spatula-shaped. A long single, fibrous main root sends out several prostrate or buried stems from which grow erect, branching stems 4-6 inches high. Eventually, the plant will spread to 15 feet coverage of the ground. The bark is dark brown or somewhat reddish. The leaves are entire, oval or obovate, rounded at the apex, often 1/2 to 2 inches long, and slightly rolled down at the edges.

Leaves turn red the fall. Flowers white, urn-shaped; May to June. Fruit dry red or pink, mealy, berry when ripe, containing several one-seeded nutlets. Needs partial shade or full sun, is considered a good ground cover where lime is not in the soil and drainage is good. Zones 2-7. In the southern heat, it struggles and usually dies; it can be grown in a pot if given its preferred conditions.

Where Found

Found in dry, sterile, sandy or gravely soil, exposed rock. Arctic to northern United States. Also found in Europe and Mexico. Found in 3,000-9,000 foot altitudes.

Medicinal Properties

Diuretic, strongly astringent, tonic

Biochemical Information

Arbutin, chorine, ellagic acid, ericolin, gallic acid, hydroquinolone, malic acid, methyl-arbutin, myricetin, volatile oils, quercetin, tannins, ursolic acid, ursone, and a substance similar to quercetin. Tannin is present up to 6% or 7%.

Legends, Myths and Stories

Native Americans used bearberry, or kinnikinnick as they called it, in their ceremonial pipe in place of tobacco. The Arikaras cultivated sacred tobacco and mixed it with bearberry dried leaves and the dried inner bark of red dogwood. Some Native American tribes mixed tobacco with bearberry to make a milder smoke. The pipe-stem of the Plains Indians was made of golden sumac, a sumac which used to grow close by the pipestone quarry.

This stem was about 24 inches long and an inch wide, but quite thick, flat like a carpenter’s pencil. This is the way the hole through the stem was made. Gathering the sumac in Spring when the sap was up in the large pith, some meat or fish was put out where blowflies could work on it. When large maggots were on the meat, the piece of sumac which had previously been put in a can of oil or bear grease, was brought in.

As the large pith had taken up the oil, it was soft, and quite a bit was dug out. The maggots were then sealed up in the stem, to either eat their way through, or die. Sometimes they did both, but there was plenty of time to do it all over again, patiently, till a long perfect hole was drilled through. The use of bearberry as a folk remedy for urinary tract infections has been validated by modern research showing that this herb is an effective treatment for bladder and kidney ailments.

Uses

Historical herbalists used bearberry as a bitter tonic and diuretic, traditionally administering it for kidney stones, hemorrhoids, and diarrhea. Past traditions also employed the plant for complaints of the spleen, liver, pancreas, and small intestines, as well as for bronchitis, general female disorders, and to check bleeding. Additionally, early herbal accounts recommended the leaves to strengthen the heart muscle.

Bibliography

The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 Old Ways Rediscovered , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988 Prairie Smoke , by Melvin R.

Gilmore, Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, copyright 1987. Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , West Nyack, NY, 1987. , Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , Copyright 1988, published 1992 American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements , by James F.

D. and Phyllis A. , 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants , by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, Crescent Books (January 27, 1992). The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988.

The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974 The Healing Plants , by Mannfried Pahlow, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. , Hauppauge, NY 11788, 1992