Blackberry

Watery, frequent stools in a pale, feeble infant with poor appetite and evidence of sluggish liver and glandular action

Chronic loose stools in an adult whose mucous membranes seem relaxed and atonic rather than acutely inflamed

Gastro-intestinal atony, with copious watery and pale feces.

Overview. Rubus villosus is an old botanical name applied to the wild American blackberry, a bramble of the rose family native to eastern North America, now generally referred to the Rubus allegheniensis complex. The root bark, and to a lesser extent the leaves, were the parts favored by nineteenth century American Eclectic physicians for their pronounced astringency. It held a steady place in domestic and Eclectic medicine as a gentle, dependable remedy for diarrheal complaints, particularly in children.

Clinical Notes. Blackberry root bark is one of the older and gentler astringents, well suited to cases where the gut lining seems lax and enfeebled rather than acutely inflamed. Eclectic writers valued it especially in the diarrheas of infancy and early childhood, describing a picture of a pale, listless child with poor appetite and sluggish organ function, in which the astringent tannins were thought to firm relaxed mucosa while the bitter fraction offered a mild tonic lift to digestion.

Action and Therapy. The decoction of rubus is a mild and agreeable astringent in watery diarrheas, especially in children, when the stools are clay-colored or pale. There is marked enfeeblement of the stomach and bowels, and the child is fretful, has no appetite, and there is marked pallor of the skin. The syrup or a spiced cordial of the bark and another of the fruit have been used largely in domestic practice to control intractable diarrheas. They act best after a thorough purging with castor oil or similar cathartic has been resorted to. Rubus strigosus (Red Raspberry) has similar uses.

Therapy. In those cases of diarrhea where there are large, watery, clay-colored discharges three or four times each day, an infusion of blackberry root will sometimes correct this entire train of symptoms. A syrup of blackberry will also answer an excellent purpose.