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Cranberry
Vaccinium macrocarpon
Fights bladder and
urinary tract infections
COLORING TIPS
Cranberry leaves can be
tinged with red or brown.
The stems are often reddish brown.
The berries are ruby-red.
The top wings of the blossoms
are light pink. The part of the
blossom pointing down is reddish
brown or red. You can color the
tassels at the end of the blossom
gold, light brown, or yellow.
Cranberry | MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA © 2012 Flora Delaterre™ Productions | www.floradelaterre.com
C
ranberry plants are small and like a lot of water. Their tasty, pretty fruits
can help with urinary and bladder infections. These infections are no
fun. It feels like you can’t urinate, and when you do, it’s uncomfortable or
painful. Often, your whole body burns with fever.
Natural compounds (chemicals) in cranberry keep the organisms that cause
infection from sticking like velcro to the walls of the bladder and urinary tract. The
body is able to flush them out, and they can’t cause infection.
North American Indian people added dried cranberries to dressings for wounds.
They also mixed cranberries with meat and fat to make pemmican, a food they could
take with them on trips—similar to granola and energy bars today. Cranberry was
also used to make dye. Early North American settlers used cranberry to treat bladder
and urinary problems, cancer, gall bladder attacks, and more.
FUN FACTS
❁ To benefit from cranberry, all you have to do is drink or eat cranberries. It’s okay if
they’re sweetened.
❁ The state of Wisconsin produces the most cranberries in the United States,
followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington State. In Canada,
farmers grow cranberries in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Nova
Scotia, and Quebec. Chile, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and eastern Europe also
produce cranberries.
❁ “Cran” comes from “crane.” People named the berries after these long, tall birds either
because cranes liked to eat the berries or because parts of the plant resemble a crane.
❁ Other names for cranberry in Europe and Canada include marshwort, fenberry,
and mossberry.
❁ Cranberry growers harvest cranberries by flooding
the fields with water. The berries float on top of
the water, where they are corraled and gathered.
❁ Pure cranberry juice is about as sour as lemon juice.
❁ Cranberry is one of three well-known fruits
whose natural home is North America. The
other two are blueberry and Concord grape.
Blueberry contains the same infection-fighting
compounds found in cranberry.
Cranberry | MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA © 2012 Flora Delaterre™ Productions | www.floradelaterre.com