Bloodberry – Nutritional Value, Health Benefits, Recipes

Bloodberry scientifically known as Rivina humilis is a species of flowering plant in the family Petiveriaceae. It was formerly placed in the pokeweed family, Phytolaccaceae. The plant is native to the southern USA (i.e. Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona), Mexico, Central America (i.e. Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama), the Caribbean and South America (i.e. French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and Paraguay). It has also been extensively introduced to other countries and has become naturalized in much of the Pacific and a small number of countries in Africa and Asia. Popular common names include baby pepper, blood berry, coralberry, pigeon berry, rouge plant, Corralito, Small Pokeweed, Inkberry, turkey berry, Jumby Pepper, Jumbi Pepper, Slippery Bush, Wild tomato, cat’s blood, dog blood, dogberry, jumbie basil and jumbie pepper.

Genus name honors Jean de la Ruelle (1474-1537), French herbalist and physician to Francois I (1494-1547) who was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. The Specific epithet means low-growing or dwarfish in Latin, referring to the plant’s short stature. It is cultivated as an ornamental in warm regions throughout the world and is appreciated as a shade-tolerant groundcover. It is also grown as a houseplant and in greenhouses. The red fruits are gathered from the wild to be used for dyeing. The plant is widely grown as an ornamental in the tropics and subtropics, where it is particularly valued for its brilliantly colored, rather handsome berries. Although the berries are considered toxic to humans, birds find them irresistible. The plant is suggested to attract birds to the garden. Southwestern Native Americans used the berries for a red dye. In Mexico, the leaves were used to treat wounds. The juices of the berries have been tested in male rats and are reported to be safe to consume.

Bloodberry Facts

Plant Description

Bloodberry is an upright, herbaceous to woody perennial plant or small shrub that normally grows about 0.4–2 m (1.3–6.6 ft) tall. The plant is found growing in woods, roadsides, in fields, pastures, closed forests, forest margins, thickets, shell middens, hammocks, disturbed areas, river margins, shady areas in grassland, in villages, particularly in dumpsites, waste areas, urban bushland and gardens in tropical and subtropical regions. The plant has a woody taproot and the stem is erect, dichotomously branched, angular, glabrous, or slightly pubescent at the nodes. Younger stems are greenish in color and mostly hairless (i.e. glabrous).

Leaves

The simple leaves are alternately arranged along the stems with a wavy margin.  They are borne on stalks (i.e. petioles) 1-5 cm long. Leaves blades are light green, thin textured, 3-13 cm long and 1-5 cm wide are oblong or narrowly egg-shaped in outline (i.e. narrowly-ovate) with entire margins and pointed tips. They are hairless or sparsely hairy. The base is round and the apex is acuminate. The upper leaf surface is glabrous and the lower surface is covered with a few minute hairs along the midrib and main veins.

Flowers

The whitish flowers are arranged in elongated clusters that are 4-8 cm long, lengthening to 5-15 cm long in fruit) in the forks of the upper leaves. Numerous small flowers are produced in each of these clusters, each being borne on a short stalk (i.e. pedicel) 1-4 mm long. These flowers have four small ‘petals’ (i.e. perianth segments) 1-3 mm long and four stamens. The ‘petals’ are initially white or pinkish but turn greenish as they mature. Flowering occurs mostly during spring and summer.

Fruit

The fruit is small glossy, sub-globose berries that contain a single seed. These fruits are 2.5–5 mm (0.098–0.197 in) in diameter and are initially green turning to bright shining red (occasionally orange) as they mature. The rounded seeds are 2.5-3.5 mm across.

Health benefits of Bloodberry

Listed below are some of the popular health benefits of blood berry

1. Treat wounds, bruises, and cuts

Every day, a lot of people across the globe sustain cuts and wounds from different activities and sometimes these wounds turn to be chronic due to infections and several other reasons. Though the tea from the leaves of the Bloodberry has been found effective in speeding up the healing process of wounds, cuts, and bruises and it helps in preventing infections that would lead to additional complications. If you have sustained a cut, all you need to do is make some tea from Bloodberry leaves and use it to wash the wound three times a day until healing occurs.

2. Treatment of skin conditions

Skin infections are very common since it is always exposed to different stimuli that predispose it to infections. Occasionally treating these infections is a chill wind but with the Bloodberry tea, you can easily treat your skin. All you need to do is to prepare tea from the leaves of this plant and use it to bathe.

3. Relieving headache, joint pains, and muscle pain

Bloodberry tea has been effectively used in treating pain and headaches. It contains compounds that show strong anti-inflammatory activity that is responsible for pain and headaches.

4. Treatment of infertility

There are several causes of infertility in women and Bloodberry can correct infertility caused by obstruction of the fallopian tubes. A decoction from Bloodberry helps in clearing the fallopian tubes enhancing the easy fertilization of the ovum.

5. Treatment of gastrointestinal disturbances

Tea from the Bloodberry is effective in correcting gastrointestinal disturbances and it enhances the normal peristalsis and movement of the gut contents.

6. Respiratory support

Bloodberry is also used to resolve several respiratory complaints, especially in the treatment of catarrh, also coughs, colds, and fever.

Traditional uses and benefits of Bloodberry

• It has been used as a folk medicine to treat colds, diarrhea, difficult urination, flatulence, gonorrhea, jaundice, and ovarian pain.
• Leaves are said to be used for catarrh and for treating wounds.
• It may be used to treat wounds, bruises, and cuts.
• Tea from the leaves is used to wash wounds, bruises and cuts, and any other skin ailments.
• Tea may also be used as an herbal bath and this can also treat skin ailments as well.
• It is useful for headaches, muscle, and joint pains; it relieves gastrointestinal problems and is widely believed to be effective in treating infertility problems by clearing the Fallopian tubes of blockages.
• It is also great for menstrual problems, especially cramps.
• It is widely used to resolve womb-related conditions such as infertility, irregular periods, painful periods, fibroids, and cysts.

Precautions

• Consumption of the fruit produces numbness of the mouth, within 2 hours with a feeling of warmth in the throat and stomach.
• This is followed by coughing, thirst, tiredness with yawning, and subsequent vomiting and diarrhea.

References

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