49. Berberis vulgaris, Linn.

The medicinal plant Berberis vulgaris is a member of the Berberidaceae (barberry) family. This page includes its habitat, botanical descption, medicinal uses (eg., Ayurveda), chemical constituents and history of use in modern and ancient India.

Index in Flora of British India (Hooker): 1. 109.

Vernacular:—Zirishk; Kashinal; Chachar or Chochar (PR); Bedana; Cutch (Pers.); Chatrod (Jaunsar).

Habitat:—Himalaya from Nepal westward, in shady forests, above 8,000 ft., Jaunsar and Tehri-Garhwal 12,000 ft., Simla, Narkunda, 8,000—12,000 ft, Tibet, Afghanistan.

Botanical description:—A small, deciduous, thorny shrub.

Bark: brown or grey, ⅙ in. thick.

Wood: lemon-yellow, moderately hard, even-grained.

Annual rings: marked by an irregular belt of small pores, which are larger than those in the rest of the wood.

Leaves: 1-3 in. long, broadly ovate, or spathulate, membranous or thinly-coriaceous, glaucous beneath, finely serrate, with equal spinulose teeth, crowded on arrested branchlets in the axils of the 3-fid, rarely 5-fid, or rarely simple spines.

Petiole: slender, 1/10-l in. long, Racemes pedunculate.

Flowers: pale-yellow, stigmas broad, sessile. Berry ovoid, or cylindric, as long as, or shorter than the pedicel, usually red when ripe; edible,

Hooker and Thomson observe that this is an extremely variable plant. No less than five varieties are known.

Medicinal uses:—In the Punjab, the drug is used as diuretic, and for relief of heat, thirst and nausea. It is astringent, refrigerant and antibilious. In small doses it is tonic, in larger cathartic. In the form of decoction, it is useful in scarlet fever and brain affections. (Watt..