Cramp BarkViburnum opulus

Did you know?

• "Guelder rose" comes from the Dutch province of Gelderland, where the shrub is said to have first been cultivated, and in Dutch it is still Gelderse roos^{[9, 10, 11]}.

• Each flower cluster holds two kinds of flowers: a ring of large, sterile flowers around many tiny fertile ones^{[1, 7]}.

• The snowball tree is a garden form of guelder rose whose flower heads are all sterile, so they bloom as round white balls^{[2, 8, 9]}.

• The red berries often hang on the bare branches into winter, shriveling after the first frosts^{[6, 7]}.

• In Russian and Polish the shrub is kalina, and in Ukrainian kalyna^[10].

• In Türkiye the berries are known as gilaburu. In the Kayseri region they are left to ferment in water for three to four months to make gilaburu juice, a traditional drink with no alcohol^{[1, 10]}.

Origins and history

The guelder rose is a large, fast-growing shrub, up to 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) tall, with three-lobed leaves in opposite pairs^{[1, 3, 7]}. It grows wild across most of Europe, in northwest Africa and east through Russia to Siberia^{[1, 2, 7]}. It has also become naturalized in northeastern North America^{[2, 7]}.

Its English name points to the Netherlands. "Guelder" is Gelderland, the Dutch province where, according to the English herbalist Maud Grieve, the shrub was first cultivated^{[9, 11]}. The snowball form is grown in gardens for its round heads of sterile white flowers, while the wild shrub, with its flat, lacy flower clusters, grows in hedges, scrub and damp woods^{[3, 8, 9]}. The snowball image travels well: in French the shrub is also called boule de neige, "snowball"^{[5, 10]}.

The berries are sour, bitter and astringent, and they are usually cooked. People have long turned them into jams, jellies, cordials and liqueurs, especially in Russia and Ukraine^{[1, 3]}. The fruit also gives a red dye, the dried berries have been made into ink, and the wood into skewers^[3]. Because the fruit looks and tastes so much like cranberry, the shrub picked up names such as European cranberrybush, highbush cranberry and high cranberry, and the berries have been used in the same way, in jellies and preserves, from Scandinavia to Canada^{[1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11]}. The bark had a different reputation. In nineteenth-century North America, herbal practitioners of the Eclectic school valued it for cramps, and the dried bark was listed in the United States Pharmacopeia in 1894 and in the National Formulary in 1916^{[4, 6]}.

Traditional uses

Cramp bark's traditional use is long and consistent in European and North American herbal practice, and its common name records what it was valued for^{[3, 5, 6]}.

• The monthly cycle

  Cramp bark has traditionally been taken for occasional cramps associated with the menstrual cycle.* It supports women's health through the monthly cycle.*^{[3, 5, 6]}

• Muscle relaxation

  English and American herbal texts record the bark's use for cramps of all kinds. Cramp bark helps muscles relax.*^{[3, 5, 11]}

• A bark tea

  The dried bark is simmered in water to make a tea, known as a decoction.^{[3, 6]}

Plant compounds

Cramp bark contains scopoletin, a coumarin, together with iridoid glycosides, triterpenes such as alpha- and beta-amyrin, and tannins^{[3, 4, 6]}. Older pharmacy texts also name a bitter compound, viburnin, and valerianic acid in the bark^{[6, 11]}. The berries contain phenolic compounds, including chlorogenic acid and flavonoids^{[1, 4]}.