Uva ursi

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Also: Bearberry, Kinnikinnick, Mountain box

CoolingDryingTonifying

A short, strong course for a bladder infection.

A low, trailing evergreen with small leathery leaves, pink urn-shaped flowers, and red berries that bears eat in autumn. Uva ursi tightens and disinfects the urinary tract, stronger than cranberry, for short courses when a bladder infection has taken hold.

Energetics: Cooling, drying, toning
Taste: Astringent, slightly bitter
Family: Ericaceae (heath family)
Parts used: Leaves

Medicinal uses 2

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Bladder irritationTLC
Its arbutin turns into an antiseptic in the urine and helps clear an established bladder infection.
Fluid retentionTLC
A diuretic that flushes the urinary tract.

Preparations

Cold infusion and tincture in courses of no more than a week or two.

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Cautions

Keep courses to a week, two at most, and no more than five a year.
Leave it out with kidney disease and for children.
It can turn urine greenish-brown, which is harmless. A bladder infection with fever, back pain, or blood in the urine needs medical care.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

Uva ursi is avoided in pregnancy. Cranberry and D-mannose are the gentler choices for a pregnant bladder, alongside a urine test.

BreastfeedingAvoid

Its hydroquinone could reach a nursing baby. Cranberry is the safer choice while nursing.

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Folklore

Arctostaphylos and uva-ursi both mean bear's grape, in Greek and in Latin. Kinnikinnick, an Algonquian word for a smoking mixture, became a common name because many nations smoked the dried leaves, often blended with tobacco or red osier dogwood bark.

How to grow

A slow, mat-forming groundcover for sandy, acid, well-drained soil in sun. Hard to transplant; start from nursery plants. Snip leafy runners in autumn, never stripping a patch.

In the wild

Sandy pine barrens, rocky slopes, and coastal bluffs around the northern world, from the Pacific Northwest across Canada to northern Europe.

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