20) AMERICAN MEDICINAL LEAVES AND HERBS. 
BEARBERRY. 
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng. 
Pharmacopeial name.—Uva ursi. 
Other common nanes.—Red bearberry, bear’s-grape, bear’s bilberry, bear’s whortle- 
berry, foxberry, ae cranberry, mountain cranberry, crowberry, “mealberry, rock- 
berry, mountain box, kinnikinnic, killikinic, universe vine, brawlins, burren myrile, 
creashak, sagachomi, rap- 
per dandies (fruit). 
Habitat and rang e.— 
Bearberry is a native of 
this country, growing in 
dry sandy or rocky soil 
irom the Middle Atlantic 
States north to Labrador 
and westward to California 
and Alaska. 
Description.—The bear- 
berry is a low, much- 
branched shrub trailing 
over the ground and hay- 
ing leathery, evergreen 
leaves. It isa member of 
the heath family (Erica- 
ces) and produces its 
pretty waxy flowers about 
May. 
The numerous crowded 
leaves are thick and 
leathery, evergreen, about 
one-half to 1 inch in 
length, blunt and widest 
at the top and narrowing 
at the base, with a net- 
work of fine veins, smooth, 
and with margins entire. 
The flowers are few, borne 
in short drooping clusters 
Fic. 12—Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), leaves and fruits. at the ends of the 
nl branches, and are ovoid 
or somewhat bell steiped in form, four or five lobed, white with a poe tinge. 
b ] ; 
i= 
They are followed by smooth, red, globular fruits, with an insipid, rather dry pulp, 
containing five nut ets. Fig. 12.) 
Bearberry or uva ursi leaves, official in the United 
States Pharmacopeia. are collected in autumn. Collectors receive from about 2 
to 4 cents a pound for them. Bearberry leaves have a bitter, astringent taste and a 
odor. They act on the kidneys and bladder and have astringent and tonic 
properties. 
Another species he leaves of manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca Lindl.), a shrab- 
like tree, 9 to 95 feet high, have properties similar to uva ursi and are also used in 
medicine for similar purposes. They are of a leathery texture, pale green, ovate 
oblong in shape, with unbroken margins, and about 2 inches in length. Manzanita 
grows in California, in dry rocky districts on the western slopes of the Sierras. 
219 
Collection, prices, and uses. 
ei es 
