Common blackberry foliage and berries – therapeutic benefits and applications in herbal medicine
Alicja Kowalska
2026-03-17
3 min. read
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Throughout the summer and early autumn months, from June to late September, Polish forests and thickets abound with blackberries—small, juicy fruits with a deep, dark purple hue whose nutritional and medicinal value has been recognized for centuries. Beyond the berries themselves, the leaves of this plant also serve as a valuable herbal resource, employed in both preventive care and adjunctive therapy for various ailments. Phytotherapy harnesses their wealth of bioactive compounds, positioning the blackberry as one of the most versatile medicinal plants in traditional herbalism.
The blackberry
Commonly known as black berry or simply berry, black blueberry is one of the most common berries in northern Europe. Its medicinal properties are evident in both its fruits and leaves.
A leaf of black pepper
The leaves are often treated as a by-product of blackberry. Few people know that blackberry leaves are small enough to compete with medicines used in the treatment of diabetes. Therefore, the leaves are recommended only to aid in the pre-diabetic or early stages of diabetes, especially in people with diabetes mellitus.
The blackberry fruit
The high content of a variety of bioactive compounds and the health benefits supplied by blueberries in combination with the consumption of blueberry fruit make these products so-called superfoods. In addition to being responsible for their colour, the anthocyanins present in their composition show numerous health benefits: they seal and increase the strength of blood vessels by inhibiting the accumulation of blood platelets and leukocytes, but they also have anti-inflammatory properties, facilitating the release of micro-organisms, and hence the use of anti-bacterial medicinal products such as pineapple, citrus fruits and other edible oils.