Bearberry
Template:Short description Template:Other uses
Bearberries are dwarf shrubs in the genus Arctostaphylos, especially the species A. uva-ursi, A. alpina, and A. rubra. Unlike most other species of Arctostaphylos (see manzanita), they are adapted to Arctic, subarctic, and alpine/subalpine climates and have a circumpolar distribution in northern North America, Asia and Europe.
Etymology
The genus name, Arctostaphylos, derives from the Greek arctos ("bear") and staphylos ("bunch of grapes").<ref name=:0/> The species epithet uva-ursi has a similar etymology, but from Latin: uva ("bunch of grapes") and ursus ("bear").<ref name=:0/>
In the culture of First Nations people of Canada, the plant is called kinnikinnick, from an Algonquian (possibly a Blackfoot) word for "smoking mixture".<ref name=:0/>
Description
Bearberries grow as low-lying shrubs in soils predominantly composed of sand, gravel, or dunes in the boreal forest. It is less common north of the tree line.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
The plant has flexible branches growing up to Template:Convert long covered with red, shredded bark and dark green, oval leaves.<ref name=":0" /> Flowers are white or pink, tipped with red, growing in small clusters at the ends of branches, and later maturing into red oval fruits.<ref name=":0" />
Species
The name "bearberry" for the plant derives in part from the edible fruit which is a food for bears.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The fruits are gathered as food for humans, and the leaves are used in indigenous herbal medicine.<ref name=:0/>
The alpine bearberry Arctostaphylos alpina (L.) Spreng (syn. Arctous alpinus (L.) Niedenzu) is a procumbent shrub Template:Cvt. Berries are dark purple to black. Its distribution is in northern latitudes from Scotland east across Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland; southern limits extend into Europe in the Pyrenees and the Alps, in Asia to the Altay Mountains, and in North America to British Columbia in the west, and Maine and New Hampshire in the United States in the east.
The red bearberry Arctostaphylos rubra (Rehd. & Wilson) Fernald (syn. Arctous rubra (Rehder and E.H. Wilson) Nakai; Arctous alpinus var. ruber Rehd. and Wilson) is a procumbent shrub Template:Cvt with deciduous leaves. Berries are red. Its distribution is in the mountains of Sichuan, southwestern China north and east to eastern Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada, east to northern Quebec.
Uses
The berries ripen late in summer and can be eaten raw.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The plant contains diverse phytochemicals, including ursolic acid, tannic acid, gallic acid, some essential oils and resin, hydroquinones (mainly arbutin, up to 17%), tannins (up to 15%), phenolic glycosides and flavonoids.<ref name=:0/>Template:Better source
Native American Indians traditionally made use of the plant's leaves, which they gathered in summer and dried for use as a tobacco substitute or mixed with tobacco.<ref>Template:Cite book (reprinted in 1957)</ref>
Folk medicine
The dried leaves can be used in teas, liquid diffusions, tea bags or tablets for traditional medicine.<ref name="Blumenthal">Template:Cite book</ref> Bearberry appears to be relatively safe, although large doses may cause nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, back pain and tinnitus.<ref name= "Bowling">Template:Cite book</ref> Cautions for use apply during pregnancy, breast feeding, or in people with kidney disease.<ref name="Blumenthal" /><ref>Nordeng H. and Havnen, G.C. (2005) "Impact of socio-demographic factors, knowledge and attitude on the use of herbal drugs in pregnancy" Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 84(1): pp. 26–33, note 16, Template:Doi</ref>
The efficacy and safety of bearberry treatment in humans remain unproven,<ref name="Bowling" /> as no clinical trials exist to interpret effects on any disease.
History and folklore
Bearberry was first documented in The Physicians of Myddfai, a 13th-century Welsh herbal. It was also described by Clusius in 1601, and recommended for medicinal use in 1763 by Gerhard and others. It first appeared in the London Pharmacopoeia in 1788.Template:Cn
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 carrying the smoker's prayers.<ref name=:0/> Among the ingredients in kinnikinnick were non-poisonous sumac leaves,<ref name = "Upham">Template:Cite book</ref> and the inner bark of certain bushes such as red osier dogwood (silky cornell),<ref name="Upham" /> chokecherry, and alder, to improve the taste of the bearberry leaf.<ref>Staff (2009) "Bearberry" Template:Webarchive Discovering Lewis and Clark The Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation</ref>
References
External links
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) (30 January 2018). Assessment report on Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng., folium, London