Popular names: catberry, wild raspberry.
Parts Used: Young leaves, but above all fruits.
Pharmacy name: raspberry leaves – Rubi idaei folium (formerly: Folia Rubi idaei), raspberry syrup – Rubi idaei sirapus (formerly: Sirupus Rubi idaei).
Botanical description. The raspberry bush sometimes reaches a height of 2 meters; it has slightly woody, not often curved and slightly thorny stems. Leaves compound, pinnate, terminal leaflet with petiole. The ovate leaflets are darker on the upper side than on the lower side, on which they have a white tomentose omission. The flowers are white to pink in color, with 5 petals and are placed in small, loose racemes. Blooms from May to June. Forest raspberries grow in sunny forest glades, along forest edges and slopes, on dumps, waste heaps and open slopes, even along roadsides – both on the plain and in the mountains. The higher the place of its growth, the more severe the living conditions, the more fragrant its fruits.
Collection and preparation. Raspberry-red fruits of this plant ripen in summer (until autumn). They have been collected since ancient times – mainly for the preparation of such a versatile raspberry juice. The fruits must be well ripe. The leaves are harvested in the spring, while they are still young and tender. Drying is carried out in air or with artificial heating.
active ingredients. The most important component of the leaves, like the blackberry, is tannin. And the fruits contain, along with aromatic substances, refreshing organic acids, B vitamins and provitamin A, many minerals, especially potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron and magnesium.
Healing action and application. Raspberry leaves act as a mild hemostatic agent and are therefore suitable for the treatment of inflammation of the mucous membrane in the oral cavity. Like all remedies containing tannins, they are also used against diarrhea. Nevertheless, in modern medicine little attention is paid to raspberry leaves. At most, they find use as an additive in all sorts of tea blends for “blood cleansing”. Raspberry juice, on the contrary, is now, as before, used as a healing drink for fevers, as a flavoring additive to bitter medicines, and as a refreshing drink. There was a time when it seemed that citrus fruits would replace raspberries, but this danger seems to have passed, since it became clear that raspberries are not inferior to citrus fruits in their beneficial qualities.
My special advice. I want to share with you a tea recipe that many of my friends use when they need to make a strengthening drink for breakfast or dinner in winter. An important role in it is played by raspberry (and blackberry) leaves, as they have a mild astringent effect, thereby significantly increasing the usefulness of tea blends, and taste like black tea.
- Tea mixture with raspberry leaves: Raspberry leaves 20.0 Strawberry leaves 10.0 Blackberry leaves 5.0 Woodruff herb 2.0\r
Take 2 heaping teaspoons of the mixture per 1/4 liter of water (2 tablespoons of the mixture per teapot for 6 people), pour boiling water over it, leave for about 5 minutes and filter. You can experiment with this tea by adding, for example, a pinch of thyme, a few crushed juniper berries and 1 teaspoon of hibiscus flowers or lemon balm leaves. Don’t forget about the rosehip. In all cases, such a healing homemade tea can be drunk with lemon (even with milk) and sweetened with honey or sugar.
Application in folk medicine. In folk medicine, raspberry leaves, flowers, young shoots and roots are used, like blackberry leaves: to strengthen the gums, to cleanse the blood, from gastrointestinal diseases, and for skin rashes. It seems that we are dealing with the same plant. In the old herbalists they were probably not particularly distinguished, which is why there is still some confusion, which, however, in this case is by no means tragic.
Side effects are unknown