Barberry (redirected from European barberries)

barberry (bär`bĕr'ē), common name for the family Berberidaceae, and specifically for the spiny barberries (Berberis species). The family includes perennial herbs and shrubs found in the Northern Hemisphere. The fruit is often a colorful, winter-persistent berry. The spiny barberries are primarily Asian in origin. B. vulgaris, the common barberry, is naturalized in the United States and is often cultivated for hedges, but it is a host for one stage of wheat rust, a fungal pathogen that destroys the wheat plant. The Japanese barberry (B. thunbergii) is resistant. Other members of the family are the blue cohosh or papooseroot (Caulophyllum thalictroides), the May apple (genus Podophyllum), and the Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), an evergreen shrub that is the floral emblem of Oregon. The edible berries of these three are sometimes used for condiments and jellies. A compound derived from barberry, berberine, is used as an antibacterial agent. The May apple was used as a medicinal by various Native American groups, and two semisynthetic podophyllotoxins, etoposide and teniposide, are used in cancer chemotherapy. The barberry family is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Ranunculales.

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barberry

American barberry (Berberis canadensis).

(credit: Walter Chandoha)

Any of the almost 500 species of thorny evergreen or deciduous shrubs constituting the genus Berberis. The genus is the largest and most important group in the family Berberidaceae, of the buttercup order. Most barberries are native to the northern temperate zone, particularly Asia. Barberry bushes have yellow wood and yellow flowers. The fruit of several species is made into jellies. Other members of the same family include heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), an indoor potted plant; mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), a woodland wildflower; Epimedium, a ground cover; and Oregon grape (Mahonia), a genus of broad-leaved evergreen shrubs.

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barberry

1. any spiny berberidaceous shrub of the widely distributed genus Berberis, esp B. vulgaris, having clusters of yellow flowers and orange or red berries: widely cultivated as hedge plants

2. the fruit of any of these plants

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Barberry 

(Berberis), a genus of shrubs of the family Ber-beridaceae.

The leaves of the barberry are simple dentate, arranged in clusters on short branches in the axils of simple or tripartite thorns (modified leaves). The flowers have a double perianth and are yellow, with two nectaries at the base of the petals. The fruit is a berry.

There are approximately 175 species of barberry found mainly in the northern hemisphere. In the USSR, 12 species of barberry grow wild, primarily in the mountainous regions of Middle Asia and in the Caucasus. One species, B. amurensis, grows wild in the Far East. Approximately 45 species have been introduced into the USSR. The barberry is economically important as a berry shrub and a source of honey and dye. The wood of the barberry is very hard and is used for small turned goods. The common barberry (B. vulgaris) is very widely cultivated as a decorative shrub and often planted to form hedges.

An infusion made with the leaves of the common barberry and Amur barberry (containing the alkaloids berberine, oxy-contine, and berbamine) is used for medicinal purposes in cases of uterine hemorrhages (it causes the muscles of the uterus to contract, causes some constriction of the blood vessels, and somewhat accelerates the clotting of the blood). An infusion made with barberry leaves and a sulfate of the alkaloid berberine is used to stimulate the flow of bile in cases of chronic hepatitis, cholecystitis, and gallstones.

Barberry should not be planted near wheat crops because it is the intermediate host of the fungus Puccinia graminis and may infect the grain with wheat rust.

REFERENCES

Derev’ia i kustarniki SSSR. Moscow, 1966.
Shimaniuk, A. P. Dendrologiia. Moscow, 1967.

T. B. VERNANDER