Kinnikinnick is a beautiful and tough shrub. It’s evergreen, like its close relative arbutus, but kinnikinnick trails along the ground instead of growing into a huge tree. We find kinnikinnick in dry sunny spots, often on rocky outcrops or other well-drained sites. We often find kinnikinnick together with arbutus and Garry oak.
A different common name for kinnikinnick is “bearberry”, and the scientific name Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, is a double translation of this name: In Greek, arctos = bear, and staphylo = ‘bunch of grapes’. In Latin, uva = grape, and ursi = bear. Whoever gave kinnikinnick its scientific name was very careful to imprint the meaning of “bearberry” on this plant using two ancient languages. 🙂
The name kinnikinnick is supposedly an Algonquian word meaning ‘smoking mixture’, and dried leaves of the plant were smoked either by itself or mixed with tobacco in our region. The plant also has traditional medicinal uses.