Bearberry

Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, is a low evergreen shrub of the heath family, Ericaceae, standing five to thirty centimetres high, whose long trailing stems root as they spread and knit into thick mats. Its small leathery leaves are glossy dark green above and paler below; in May and June drooping clusters of urn-shaped flowers, white to pink, open at the shoot tips and are followed by shiny red berries that bears and other animals eat. It grows right round the northern world, in the far north and on high ground further south, and in Britain mostly on the Scottish hills. Its Greek genus name and its Latin species name both mean the bear's grape. The astringent leaves, rich in tannin and arbutin, are an old remedy for the bladder and urinary tract: the thirteenth-century Welsh Physicians of Myddfai knew them, and in Sweden and Russia they were used to tan leather. Kinnikinnick, an Algonquian word for a smoking mixture, names both the plant and the blends of its dried leaves smoked in North American ceremonies, sometimes with tobacco, to seal a pact or calm a thunderstorm. In magic the leaves go into sachets to raise psychic power, the plant serves protection, intuition and strength, and in hoodoo it is put into mojo bags and candle work.