Common name

Wild red raspberry

Medicinal parts

Leaves, fruit

Description

Wild red raspberry is shrubby plant that is indigenous to the untended fields and forests of North America. A durable root produces the prickly stem with alternating, feather-like leaves. During the plant's second year, white cup-shaped flowers appear in the spring and summer. the red fruit is edible, and ripens during the summer.

Dosage

Steep 1 oz. leaves in 2 cups water for 15 minutes. Take 2 cups a day.

Raspberry Leaves are harvested from the red raspberry bush (which is different from the black raspberry); the bush grows abundantly and easily, to the point of becoming invasive.

In the days when midwives were pregnant women's primary health care providers, and "natural" childbirth was not an option but a necessity, raspberry leaves were the midwives' herb of choice for their patients, who were advised to drink it daily during the last three months of pregnancy (but not early on) in order to promote an easy delivery by tonifying the uterus.

After the child was born, new mothers were to take raspberry tea for several weeks to aid the uterus's return to a normal state. It was also used in nonpregnant women to ease menstrual cramps. It has astringent and antispasmodic properties, which are especially applicable to the womb.

Other uses for raspberry leaves are as an infusion to make a mouthwash for sore gums, sore throats, and mouth ulcers. Dr. Shealy, in his Illustrated Encyclopedia of Natural Remedies, says that it can be used for children's diarrhea and oral thrush by putting raspberry leaf tea into a sterilized spray bottle and spraying into the mouth of the infant three or four times a day. He further recommends using standardized forms of the leaves and following the dose instructions on the packet.