Habitat: Native to North America. Dried bark imported into India.
English: Cranberry Bush, Cramp- bark.Action: Used as a diuretic and as a uterine sedative in functional uterine disorders.
The activity of the bark has been attributed to the presence of uterine relaxants, acting directly on the muscle and not through sympathomimetic action. The muscle relaxants include an essential oil, an amorphous, bitter phenolic glucoside, esculetin and scopo- letin.The bark contains hydroquinones, arbutin, methylarbutin and traces of hydroquinone; coumarins including scopoletin and scopoline; tannins mainly catechins.The polycondensed tannins produced significant angioprotective effect in rats.