Hawthorn Berries

Latin: Crataegus oxycanthoides

Arabic: Zaaroor

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Shan Zha

A “cardiac muscle tonic” (Menzies-Trull in "The Herbalist's Prescriber").

“Hawthorn berries provide us with one of the best tonic remedies for the heart and circulatory system. They act in a normalising way upon the heart by either stimulating or depressing its activity depending on the need. In other words, hawthorn berries will move the heart to normal function in a gentle way. As a long-term treatment, they may safely be used in heart failure and weakness.” (David Hoffman in “The New Holistic Herbal”).

Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble, in “Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica” say hawthorn berries are, “sour, sweet, slightly warm” and are used for food stagnation, blood statis,  diarrhoea and, “used recently for hypertension, coronary heart disease, and elevated serum cholesterol.”