Uva Ursi

Known to many First Nations and Indigenous peoples of North America as kinnikinnick, Uva Ursi was a foundational herb of sacred ceremonial blends, mixed with other plants and offered in pipe rituals of prayer and connection. Its dried leaves were carried with reverence, smoked in moments of council and communion — a humble, grounding plant woven deep into ceremony.

Containing the astringent compound arbutin and tannins, Uva Ursi has long been traditionally associated with supporting the urinary tract and toning the tissues. Herbalists value it as a drying, astringent ally. In a blend it offers a smooth, mild, earthy base note with little harshness — a mellow woodland foundation that carries and softens the more aromatic herbs around it.

The bears who feast on its scarlet berries gave the plant both its Latin and common names, and folklore long linked it to the wisdom and strength of the bear. Northern peoples told that the plant shared in the bear's grounded, enduring spirit, and to carry kinnikinnick was, in old belief, to carry a measure of that quiet woodland power.

Bearberry — how could I not love it? The bear's own grape, the bear's own herb. I build many of my grounding blends on its smooth, earthy base. It carries everything else gently, the way the woods hold you without asking anything in return.