Moneses uniflora - Single delight

Family: Ericaceae (Crowberry family) (Previously in Pyrolaceae) [E-flora]

Fruit & Seeds, TB, Throat aid, Colds, Poultice

Moneses uniflora kz06
(Wikimedia)1
Moneses uniflora 13433
(Wikimedia)2
Warming-Skudbygning-Fig23-Moneses-uniflora
(Wikimedia)3*

"Moneses uniflora is an evergreen Perennial growing to 0.1 m (0ft 4in) by 0.3 m (1ft). It is hardy to zone (UK) 2. It is in leaf 12-Jan It is in flower from Jun to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies, beetles, self.The plant is self-fertile. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils. Suitable pH: acid and neutral soils and can grow in very acid soils. It can grow in full shade (deep woodland) semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil." [PFAF]

General: "Perennial, slightly woody herb from slender, rhizome-like root; stems erect or nearly so, 3-10 cm tall." [IFBC-E-flora]
Leaves: "Evergreen, more or less basal, egg-shaped, 1-4 cm long including the short stalks, 0.6-2 cm wide, thin, veiny, finely-toothed, tips rounded." [IFBC-E-flora]
Flowers: "Inflorescence a single, terminal, nodding flower, 1.3-2.5 cm wide, fragrant; flower stem pimpled above, bracts 1 or 2, about midlength on naked stem; petals 5, distinct, widely spreading, waxy white to pinkish, lance egg-shaped, 7-11 mm long, entire or minutely-fringed; sepals 5, distinct, 1.5-3 mm long, usually bent back, margins ragged-fringed; styles 2-4 mm long, straight; stigmas large, 5-lobed; stamens 10." [IFBC-E-flora]
Fruits: "Capsules, nearly globe-shaped, 5-8 mm wide." [IFBC-E-flora]

Habitat / Range
"Mesic forests in the montane zone; infrequent in SC BC, frequent elsewhere in BC; circumboreal, N to AK, YT, and NT, E to NF and S to CA, NM, MN, and PA; Eurasia." [IFBC-E-flora]

Origin Status: Native [E-flora]

Edible Uses

Fruit

"Fruit[2, 105, 155, 161, 257]. No more details are given. The fruit is a capsule about 8cm wide[200]." [PFAF] "The seeds, along with their capsule, are edible raw, roasted, parched, ground, etc." [Kirk WEP]

Seed

"Seed - raw or cooked[172]." [PFAF]

Medicinal Uses

"Both the Nootka and the Kwakiutl placed a poultice of the leaves over boils or abscesses to draw out the pus (Densmore, 1939; Boas, 1966). It was so strong it caused skin blisters. The Cowichan and other Island Salish may also have used it for this purpose." [Turner&Bell]

abscesses, boils, common cold, cough; (8) [CRC Eth]

"Many Canadian First Nations communities have used the plant for medicinal purposes. Infusions of the dried plants were used to treat paralysis (Montagnais), sore throats (Haisla and Hanaksiala) (Arnason et al., 1981; Saxena et al., 1996)" (Haoxin,Li,2010)

Plant

An infusion of the dried plant has been used in the treatment of coughs and colds. The plant has been chewed, and the juice swallowed, as a treatment for sore throat.[257]" [PFAF]

Leaves

A poultice has been used to draw out the pus from boils and abscesses, to draw blisters, to help reduce swelling and also to relieve pain.[257]" [PFAF] "This plant was used to poultice swell- ings and pains. It was chewed or pounded with a rock and held onto the skin with shredded undyed cedar bark. It was so strong it caused blisters to form on the skin. These were opened with broken mussel shells and smeared with catfish oil. When the loose skin peeled off, the sore was washed with an extract of gooseberry roots (Ribes sp.) and covered with plan- tain leaves (Plan tago major) until it healed (Boas, 1930, 1966)." [Turner&Bell2] "When Moneses uniflora was used to draw blisters on sores and swellings, plantain (Plantago major) leaves were laid on to heal the wound after the blisters had been opened. They were left on until they had dried up (Boas, 1966)." [Turner&Bell2]

Lore

"Certain plants, however, are said to help people connect to the supernatural: false hellebore, devil’s-club, and single delight (Moneses uniflora) are three that have been mentioned in traditional narratives as fulfilling this role." [APAK Turner]

"Plant eaten by people for luck and power by supernatural characters in stories". [APAK Turner]

"Plant eaten for “luck” and power; used, along with devil’s-club, as good luck charm and for supernatural help (Haida) (Swanton 1905, 1908; Turner 2004a)". [APAK Turner]

Pharmacology

"A number of plant extracts and compounds have potent antimycobacterial properties. Examples of the species that appear to be among the most active include Allium sativum, Borrichia frutescens, Ferula communis, Heracleum maximum, Karwinskia humboldtiana, Leucas volkensii, Moneses uniflora, Oplopanax horridus, Salvia multicaulis, and Strobilanthus cusia. (Newton et al., 2000)." [PDBHM]

"In our preliminary screening of 13 traditionally used medicinal plants from Canadian First Nations, we found the crude extract of M. uniflora showed significant activity against M. tuberculosis (H37Ra) (O'Neill et al., 2014)." (Haoxin,Li,2010)

"The crude extract of M. uniflora showed significant activities against M. tuberculosis and M. avium in a screening study (McCutcheon et al., 1997). Naphthoquinone derivatives have previously been isolated from M. uniflora because of their significant anti-fungal activities (Saxena et al., 1996). However, the crude extracts as well as the naphthoquinones from M. uniflora did not display any activity against the same Mycobacterium spp. in a disk diffusion assay (Saxena et al., 1996)" (Haoxin,Li,2010)

"The ex- tract prepared from Moneses uniflora aerial parts gave a zone of inhibition greater than 25 mm against Aspergillus fumigatus, more than double that of the positive control. Of the 20 extracts that were active against the related species Aspergillus flavus, only the extracts of Asarum caudatum and Moneses unifrora gave zones of inhibition compar- able to that of the positive control." (McCutcheon,1994)

"Of the 30 extracts which were active against Saccharomyces cerevisiae, only the extracts of Moneses unljlora and Philadelphus lewisii gave zones of inhibition comparable to that of Nystatin." (McCutcheon,1994)

"Only 5 extracts exhibited a strong inhibitory effect on Trichoderma viridae: Alnus rubra catkins, Artemisia ludoviciana, Artemisia tridentata, Mahonia aquifolium and Moneses uniflora." (McCutcheon,1994)

"The extracts of Heracleum maximum Bartr. (Umbel- liferae) roots, Moneses uniflora (L.) Gray (Ericaceae) aerial parts and Oplopanax horridus Miq. (Araliaceae) inner bark completely inhibited the growth of both M. tuberculosis and M. avium at a concentration equivalent to 20 mg of dried plant material (10 µl extract/disc)." (McCutcheon,1997)

suppurative, vesicant; (6) [CRC Eth]

Pytochemicals

"Additionally, the discrepant results mentioned above also prompted us to carry out a bioassay guided fractionation of M. uniflora, which led to the isolation of one new 1,4-naphthoquinone derivative, 5, 8-dihydro-3-hydroxychimaphilin (2.16), three known 1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives (2.17, 2.18 and 2.19), which 2.18 and 2.19 have previously been isolated from M. uniflora (Saxena et al., 1996), and two known coumarins (2.20 and 2.21)." (Haoxin,Li,2010)

"In conclusion, the isolation of potent anti-mycobacterial naphthoquinones is consistent with the traditional uses of M. uniflora for tuberculosis treatment by First Nation peoples." (Haoxin,Li,2010)

Cultivation

"Prefers a moist sandy woodland soil[111, 200] in a cool position with partial shade[1, 11, 200]. Requires a peaty or leafy acid soil that remains moist in the summer[200]. This is a very difficult plant to grow. It requires a mycorrhizal relationship in the soil and therefore needs to be grown initially in soil collected from around an established plant[200]. It is also very difficult from seed as well as being intolerant of root disturbance which makes division difficult[1]. This species is rare decreasing in the wild in Britain. Surviving populations are threatened, usually by commercial forestry[200]." [PFAF]

Propagation

"Seed - the only information we have on this species is that it is difficult from seed and germinates infrequently[200]. We would suggest sowing the seed as soon as it is ripe if this is possible. Sow it into soil collected from around an established plant, only just covering the seed, and put the pot in a shady part of a cold frame. Pot up any young seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle, once again using soil from around an established plant. Plant out into their permanent positions when the plants are large enough. You should not need to use soil from around an established plant to do this since the soil in the pot will contain the necessary micorrhiza. Division with great care in the spring[1, 111]. Pot up the divisions using some soil from around an established plant, grow on in a lightly shaded part of a greenhouse or frame and do not plant out until the plants are growing away vigorously[200]." [PFAF]

Synonyms
Moneses uniflora subsp. reticulata (Nutt.) Calder & Roy L. Taylor [E-flora]
Moneses uniflora var. reticulata (Nutt.) S.F. Blake [E-flora]
Moneses uniflora var. uniflora [E-flora]
M. grandiflora. [PFAF]
Pyrola uniflora L. [E-flora][PFAF]

References

Image References

Moneses Sp.

"1 sp. (Greek: single delight, from single flower)" [Jepson]

Local Species;

  1. Moneses uniflora - Single delight [E-flora]

References