Description of plants
Dwarf dense shrub 10 - 40 cm high. The pale green leaves are arranged in pairs, evergreen, inverted ovate, slightly twisted and dotted at the edge. At the top of the shoot in clusters more white, rarely reddish, four-membered, single flowers bell-shaped, slightly fragrant. The fruit is a bright red bean of tropical to sour taste and pleasant aroma. It blooms in May and June, and the fruits ripen from June to August.
Use
The fruit is used dried, and in the form of jams, marmalades, compotes and syrups. In medicine, cranberry tea is used in diseases of the bladder, cramps in the bladder, painful urination, pain in the urinary tract, and at night urination. It has a similar effect as bear grapes, except that cranberry leaf tea is recommended for people with a sensitive stomach.
Collection
The fruit is collected from June to August, and in rainy years from mid-September. The leaves are collected after the fruit ripens because they are the most healing at that time. The cranberry leaf is often confused with bear grapes leaves. However, there is a difference since the cranberry leaf on the reverse is brown-spotted, and the bear grape leaf has a slightly convex rib.
