Bunchberry

Loose stools with a sore, irritated gut in a person who is otherwise well, where a gentle tannin herb is wanted

Recurrent cold sores where a mild astringent, tannin-rich wash can be applied at the first tingle

A feverish cold in the northern woods where the plant is at hand and a simple cooling tea is enough

Overview. Bunchberry is a low, creeping dogwood of cool northern forests across Canada, the northern United States, Greenland and northeastern Asia, forming carpets under conifers with a whorl of leaves, four white bracts and a cluster of red berries in late summer. The leaves and aerial parts are the medicinal portion; the mildly sweet berries are a traditional food. It belongs to the Indigenous materia medica of northern North America rather than to the European or Eclectic canon, and its use has been quiet, local and largely undocumented in modern clinical texts.

Clinical Notes. Think of bunchberry as a gentle, tannin-rich astringent in the same working group as agrimony or raspberry leaf, with a cooling quality. A tea of the leaves has been used for fevers, coughs and colds, for loose bowels, and as a mild pain remedy, and a poultice or wash of the crushed leaves for wounds, burns and sore skin.