MADROÑO (arbutus unedo)

	M
	MADROÑO
	*arbutus unedo*

Name
MADROÑO

Scientific Name
arbutus unedo

MADROÑO

Other Names:

Alborocera, Albornio, Tree of Fresas, Borrachín, Borto, Naranjuelo

tree.

French: Arbousier/Arbre aux fraises.

Of the family of the Ericáceas.

The leaves and the crust are astringents. The leaves are antiseptic of the urinary apparatus

He was already known by Dioscórides in century I d.C. and by the Roman naturalist Pliny, who seems that he said, talking about to him: "Unum edo" (I eat one), of where the one of unedo was born. The fruits can ferment in the tree and get to contain until a 0.5% of alcohol. Of there the one of "borrachín", one of its Hispanic vulgar names.

Habitat: forests of oaks and low mountains of Mediterranean Europe. Known in some regions of Centro and South America.

Description: shrub of perennial leaf of 2-3 meters of height, the family of the Ericáceas. Their green flowers, white or, with bell form, appear in clusters. The fruit is a berry of red color when it has matured.

Used parts: the fruits, the leaves and the crust.

Properties and indications: the fruits of madroño contain organic sugars, acids, pectina and tannin. They are astringents, and it does not agree to abuse them.

The leaves and the crust of the tree have until a 36% of tannin, that it makes astringents very, and arbutina, glucósido that has antiseptic and antiinflammatory action on the urinary apparatus. They are used to fight the urinary infections, the cystitis, the renales calculations and cólicos, as well as in case of diarreas and disenterías.

Use: the fruits are consumed fresh, or in jam or confitura. The mature fruits of madroño can reach a certain alcoholic degree, because the fermentation process can be initiated in the same tree. For that reason, and by his remarkable effect astringent, it does not agree to take more from a handful of madroños to the day. Decocción with the dry leaves and the crust, at the rate of 30 g by liter of water. 2 or 3 daily cups in case of urinary affections, and 4 or 5 in case of diarrea interfere.

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