Bloodberry

Overview

Bloodberry is a small, upright, or straggling perennial herb, native to the southern US, Mexico, the Caribbean islands, and Central and South America. The plant is now pantropical and often considered a pest plant outside the Americas. Although the berries are considered toxic to humans, birds find them irresistible. The plant is recommended to attract birds to the garden.

Vernacular Names

Coralito (Spanish), Sminkbär (Swedish), Bloedbessie (Africa), Rougeplant (English), pigeonberry (USA), Groseile (French), Coralberry (Australia), Shu zhu shan hu (Chinese).

Agroecology

R. humilis is a plant of the wet tropics, found in forests, thickets, on roadsides, and disturbed areas at elevations from sea level to 1,700 m. It is weedy plant of waste areas, urban bushland, and often in shady places. it can tolerant of a range of soil types and of salt spray and saline soils, also can frost-tolerant down to -18 C.

Morphology

• Stem - grooved, solid, and softly pubescence when young. younger stems are greenish in color and mostly hairless.
• Leaves - are simple, alternate, entire with a wavy margin. The blade is light green, thin textured, ovate to ovate-elliptic, supported by a long slender petiole, 10-50 mm long . 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 - are 2-3 mm in diameter, shortly pedicellate (2-3 mm). The 4 petals are obovate, turn from white or pinkish to greenish as they mature; four white stamens.
• Fruits - are glossy, small, bright red berries, subglobose (4 mm in diameter) with one seed per fruit, turn from green to bright glossy red as they mature.
• Seeds - 2.5-3.5 mm in diameter, puberulent.

Cultivation

It is propagated by seeds, stem cuttings and leaf cuttings.

Chemical Constituents

Leaves: phenolic compound, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, triterpenoids, steroids, tannins. Fruits: rivianin or rivinianin (IUPAC 5-O-β- D- glucopyranoside), 3-sulfate, betaxanthin humilixanthin.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

Medicinal Uses

• Used for intestinal tonic, treat colds, diarrhea, gonorrhea, ovarian pain,  blood purifier, and antioxidant.
• These plants are antiseptic and febrifuge and antibacterial.
• the fruit extract had antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumonia and E. coli.
• Used in the treatment of colds, diarrhea, urinary problem, flatulence, gonorrhea, jaundice.

Traditional Uses

• In Sri Lanka, it is used for treatment epilepsy and dysentery.
• The leaves used for catarrh and for treating wounds.
• Reducing ovarian pain and help nourish the womb.