BitterBerry

The BitterBerry, punishing medicine

Found in most of the world, this berry comes off of a nigh indestructible weed. The simplicity of it's name comes from it's defining quality. All names bestowed upon it through differing tongues wind up with the universal name BitterBerry. Needless to say, the berry is INCREDIBLY bitter. The berry is easily identified by the black leaved bush that has purple iridescence when the sun it out, and blue iridescence in the moonlight. The berries themselves are small and round, and start out black; as they grow ripe they slowly turn a smoky opaque.

Uses

Though the berries do ripen, it makes no difference to the "quality" of the berry; one must be ignorant to the taste or starving with no other options to even consider eating any of these. The extreme bitterness instantly causes cotton mouth that lasts for up to 48 hours with an aftertaste similar to spoiled oranges. However, the berries do seem to be highly nutritious, and fauna that have no ability to taste make these a staple. A side effect for some species of reptiles happens to be stunted growth, a very useful tool for those wishing to keep certain beasts of burdens a manageable size. Many herbal teas and apothecary pick-me-ups use BitterBerries in them due to the perceived healthiness; though no known practice has been able to remove the foul unwelcome cottonmouth that comes with it. Recently, the followers of the wandering Samaritan have developed the most effective smelling salts of the land; the BitterBerry Blast! One huff of this concoction has been cited to wake anyone from unconsciousness, sobers up the drunkest sea dogs, and can even shock people out of non magical comas! An unfortunate side effect for those unlucky enough to sniff the Bitter Blast is that they lose the ability to smell for, in extreme cases, 10 days. But medical experts are still working to dial down the potency of the Bitter Blast to make it the perfect smelling salt.

It's usefulness cannot be denied, but the side effects are most unwelcome -Gunter Strongpick-