The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies well as lateral roots and it often grows in rocky soil. Harvest the root in mid-spring to mid-August. You’ll probably need to dig out a large area to get most of the root. Bring good tools and only take what you need from this slow-growing plant.
Recipes. Balsamroot and Raw Honey Cough Syrup: You’ll need 3 to 4 Tablespoons of
Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva ursi, or Arbutus uva ursi
fresh Arrowleaf Balsamroot root, chopped into small pieces, and 1 cup raw honey. Bring the honey to a simmer and add the chopped balsamroot. Keep the heat at a low simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Strain the warm honey to remove the root pieces. Place in a clean jar and label and date. Use 1 to 2 teaspoons every 2 to 4 hours or as needed. fruit is 1/4 to 1/2 inch (0.75 cm to 1.25 cm) in diameter and can remain on the plant until winter. Each mealy fruit contains up to five tiny hard seeds.
Also called kinnikinnik, uva ursi, hog cranberry, mountain cranberry, upland cranberry, bear’s grape, and red bearberry, this herb is a small evergreen shrub that grows in northern North America and in higher elevations throughout the Appalachian Mountains. It likes acidic dry soils, especially sandy and gravel rich soils. It is in the Ericaceae (Heath) Family. It is commonly used in smoking mixtures.
Identification: The alternate paddle-shaped leaves are small and shiny with a thick, stiff feel. The underside is lighter in color than the green topside. Leaves are up to an inch (2.5 cm) long and have rounded tips. The leaves are evergreen, changing from dark green to
Bearberry Flowers, By Yvonne Zimmermann - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
The root system has a fibrous main root with buried stems that give rise to the stems of the herb. These trailing stems form layered mats with small roots and have stems growing up 6 inches (15 cm) tall when mature, with a reddish- brown bark. Younger branches are white to pale green.
Edible Use: Bearberry fruits are edible, but they are not tasty, so they are rarely eaten or used in cooking. They are sometimes used in pemmican.
Medicinal Use: The leaves and berries are used for medicine. I usually use it in tincture form for internal use.
Urinary Tract Infections, Nephritis, Kidney Stones, Cystitis, and Gout: Bearberry
Bearberry, Jesse Taylor - Own work, CC by SA 3.0
a reddish-green and then to purple in autumn. The small dark brown buds have three scales. Bearberry has small white or pink, urn-shaped flowers that appear in terminal clusters from May to June. They mature into pink to bright red fleshy drupes. The 159
leaves treat kidney (nephritis), bladder (cystitis), and urinary tract infections extremely well. It is a diuretic, increasing the urine volume, and it has antiseptic properties that reduce bacteria populations in the kidneys, bladder, and urinary tract. It relieves bladder inflammation and helps relieves the pain of kidney
