Introduction of Blackberry:American Blackberry or dewberry.
✵The article gives records of the herb Blackberry, its English name, Latin name, common names, property and flavor, its botanical source two plant species, ①.Rubus fruticosus L., ②.Rubus villosus Ait., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of these two plant species, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of these two plant species, the features of the herb Blackberry, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.
Blackberry(American Blackberry).
English Name: Blackberry.
Latin Name: Rubus fruticosus L.(European),Rubus villosus Ait.(American), and various other Rubus species.
Common Names: Bramble leaf, dewberry, goutberry, rubus, American Blackberry, Dewberry, Bramble, Goutberry, High Blackberry, Thimbleberry.
Property and flavor: cool nature, tastes sweet, sour.
Brief introduction: Virtually all parts of this prickly and vigorous flowering bush, from the dried root bark and palm-shaped leaves to the juicy blue-black berries, have been used medicinally. Blackberry, part of the same botanical family as strawberries and roses, grows wild across most of North America.
Blackberry planting has a long history. Since Ancient Greece, local people have formed the custom of collecting wild thorny blackberries for consumption. By the mid-17th century, Europeans began to domesticate and optimize wild varieties, and then, in the 19th century, they were introduced from USA (the United States of America) to the Pacific continent. Blackberry is one of the four important kinds of small fruit trees widely cultivated in America and Europe. Fresh fruits and their products are rich in nutrition, most of them are gorgeous in color and taste, and they have a unique pleasant fragrance, many of which also have some unique nutritional functions.
Botanical source: Common herbal classics defined the herb Blackberry as the fruit of the species (1).Rubus fruticosus L., or (2).Rubus villosus Ait. They are plant species of the Rubus genus, the Rosaceae family (rose family). The leaves, root or root bark, and berry are used medicinally. These commonly used species are introduced:
(1).Rubus fruticosus L.
Botanical description: Rubus fruticosus is a perennial broadleaved woody shrub of the Rubus genus and the Rosaceae family (rose family), it is a woody shrub with a perennial root system and biennial canes. The plant can grow up to 2 meters or taller, its leaf shape and plant form varies extremely. The stems are variable, semi-erect canes, and grow up to 8~10 meters long. The canes are in different colors, green, red, or purplish, with backward-pointing thorns, moderately hairy, round or angled, sometimes bearing small, stalked glands. Stems can grow out roots at the tips to form new plants, and new stems grow from the base each year.
Roots are stout, branched, creeping underground, growing vertically to a maximum depth of 1.5 meters depending on soil type, from a woody crown up to 20 cm in diameter. Secondary roots grow horizontally from the crown for 30~60 cm and then grow down vertically. Many thin roots grow in all directions from the secondary roots.
The alternate shortly stalked leaves are divided into 3 or 5 serrated, leaflets that are oval, which are arranged palmately, colored dark green on top and pale beneath.
Flowers are 2~3 cm in diameter, white to pink, with five petals and numerous stamens, in many-flowered clusters. In the Northern Hemisphere, Rubus fruticosus flowers approximately from May to August, and in the Southern Hemisphere from November to April.
The fruit is an aggregated berry, 10~20 mm long, changing color from green to red to black as it ripens, made up of approximately twenty to fifty single-seeded drupelets. Seeds are deeply and irregularly pitted, oval, colored light to dark brown, and 2.6~3.7 mm long and 1.6~2.5 mm wide.
Ecological environment: Rubus fruticosus is native to the north temperate zone of the old and new continents, especially in the east of North America and the Pacific coast, it is a common budding forest and hedge plant in the British Isles and Western Europe. In some parts of the world, such as New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest of USA, blackberry has been naturalized locally and is regarded as an alien invasive species and troublesome weed. According to incomplete statistics, up to now, 30,000 hectares are planted in USA and 20,000 hectares in Chile. Rubus fruticosus is present in many other countries as a commercial species, in North America, Oceania, South America, Asia, and even south of Africa.
(2).Rubus villosus Ait.
Botanical description: Rubus illosus Ait is synonymous with Rubus allegheniensis Porter, the Rubus allegheniensis Porter is a deciduous shrub of the Rubus genus and the Rosaceae family (rose family). It is also known as Allegheny blackberry, common blackberry. It is an upright bramble, typically it's growing up to 1.5 meters but occasionally rarely over 2.4 meters high, with single shrubs approaching 2.4 meters in breadth, although it usually forms dense thickets of many plants. Leaves are alternate, compound, ovoid, and have toothed edges.
White flowers are showy, about 2 cm across, with 5 petals. Fruit is a globose to elongate aggregate of druplets, 1~2.5 cm long and 1.5~2.5 cm wide, purple-black. The fruit does not separate from the receptacle when broken from the stalk.
Ecological environment: Rubus villosus Ait is native to eastern North America and south to near every eastern USA, and as far west as Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, California, etc.
Growth characteristics: Rubus villosus Ait can grow in semi-shade of light woodland or no shade. It prefers moist soil, it can grow in mildly acid soil, neutral and basic mildly alkaline soil, it prefers sandy, loamy, and clay soils and prefers well-drained soil. The species is hermaphrodite and is pollinated by Insects.
Characters of herbs: Blackberry root consists of the underground parts of Rubus fruticosus as well as its preparations. Blackberry leaf consists of the dried, fermented, or unfermented leaf gathered during the flowering period of Rubus fruticosus as well as its preparations.
Pharmacological actions: ①.astringent; ②.relieve diarrhea; ③.antagonistic effect; ④.antitumor property, etc.
Traditional application of blackberry for diarrhea relieving mainly due to high concentrations of tannin in blackberry, an astringent, tannins calm intestinal inflammation, so it relieves diarrhea. The berry contains less tannin than the root bark, its astringency also explains why generations have used it to treat hemorrhoids, oral lesions, sore throat, other inflammations, or mild infections in the mouth or throat. Antitumor property in the tannins of Rubus odoratus was also reported in studies. Blackberry leaf has astringent and anti-diarrheal effects due to the high tannin content.
Medicinal efficacy: In ancient times and medieval Europe, Blackberry was traditionally used to treat diarrhea, dropsy or fluid retention and swelling, gout, bleeding wounds, etc. It is recommended by contemporary herbalists to treat simple diarrhea and mild inflammation, infections in the mouth or throat, etc. But blackberry is widely used as a food and beverage flavoring.
In Europe, the herb blackberry root is used in folk medicine as prophylaxis for dropsy, and in gastrointestinal conditions, blackberry leaf is approved for diarrhea, inflammation of the mouth and pharynx, it is used for nonspecific, acute diarrhea, and mild inflammation of the mucosa of the oral cavity and throat.
Administration of Blackberry (American Blackberry):
Reference:
Administration Guide of Blackberry (American Blackberry)
Herbal classic books:
An infusion is prepared using 1 to 2 teaspoons of chopped leaves per cup of water and is drunk up to six times per day. A decoction is prepared from 1 to 2 teaspoons of powdered bark per cup of water. Root tea is also used as an astringent for diarrhea, at a dosage of 1,500 mg up to three times daily. A tincture is recommended in dosages of up to 2 teaspoons daily. In Europe, blackberry leaf is recommended 2~5 grams, a tea is advised to prepare with 1.5 grams of herb and steep for 10~15 minutes, strain.
Contraindications, Precautions and Adverse Reactions: No evidence indicates that medicinal concentrations of blackberry are hazardous in any way, but caution is advised in ingesting large amounts of any tannin-containing plants, given still unresolved concerns about their cancer-causing potential. Avoid large amounts of blackberry tea if you suffer from chronic stomach or intestinal problems.
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1.Introduction of Blackberry:American Blackberry or dewberry.
✵The article gives records of the herb Blackberry, its English name, Latin name, common names, property and flavor, its botanical source two plant species, ①.Rubus fruticosus L., ②.Rubus villosus Ait., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of these two plant species, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of these two plant species, the features of the herb Blackberry, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.
English Name: Blackberry.
Botanical description: Rubus fruticosus is a perennial broadleaved woody shrub of the Rubus genus and the Rosaceae family (rose family), it is a woody shrub with a perennial root system and biennial canes. The plant can grow up to 2 meters or taller, its leaf shape and plant form varies extremely. The stems are variable, semi-erect canes, and grow up to 8~10 meters long. The canes are in different colors, green, red, or purplish, with backward-pointing thorns, moderately hairy, round or angled, sometimes bearing small, stalked glands. Stems can grow out roots at the tips to form new plants, and new stems grow from the base each year.
Ecological environment: Rubus fruticosus is native to the north temperate zone of the old and new continents, especially in the east of North America and the Pacific coast, it is a common budding forest and hedge plant in the British Isles and Western Europe. In some parts of the world, such as New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest of USA, blackberry has been naturalized locally and is regarded as an alien invasive species and troublesome weed. According to incomplete statistics, up to now, 30,000 hectares are planted in USA and 20,000 hectares in Chile. Rubus fruticosus is present in many other countries as a commercial species, in North America, Oceania, South America, Asia, and even south of Africa.
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