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Common barberry is distributed in the middle and southern European part of the USSR, the Caucasus and the Crimea. It grows on dry stony hills, on forest edges, glades, among bushes, along river valleys. Common barberry is cultivated as a food and ornamental plant.
Leaves of common barberry are used, as well as leaves of Amur barberry, growing in the forests of Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krai. Leaves are collected immediately after flowering of the shrub. The odor of dried leaves is faint, the taste is sour.
Chemical composition and properties of barberry
Common barberry is a little-studied plant. Properties of barberry are used actively in medicine. Catechins are found in the leaves. All organs except the fruit contain alkaloids, the chief of which are berberine, berbamine. Ascorbic, malic, tartaric, citric and other acids are found in the fruit.
The effects and treatment of barberry
Treatment with barberry is carried out comprehensively and in the collection from several species of plants. Tincture of leaves of common barberry, as well as Amur barberry, has styptic, increasing blood clotting and choleretic effect.
Properties of barberry and its elements cause contraction of the uterine musculature, constrict the uterine vessels. Treatment with common barberry causes a decrease in the tone of the gallbladder, leads to an improvement in the outflow of bile, reduces pain and reduces inflammation. The most active properties of barberry are the alkaloids berberine, which has antibacterial activity. Treatment barberry is used in diseases of the gallbladder (chronic recurrent cholecystitis, dyskinesia of the gallbladder), atonic uterine bleeding, in the postpartum period especially and inflammatory processes of the uterus, accompanied by bleeding.
Treatment barberry in Bulgarian medical practice use root and bark in liver disease, liver stones, jaundice, inflammation of the kidneys, bladder, gout, rheumatism, radiculitis. In Bulgarian folk medicine, it is additionally used for stomach cramps, and a decoction of the leaves is used for bleeding, dysentery and scorbuta.
In Indian medicine, the plant is used as an astringent and diuretic. Roots is official in the United States. In America, barberry preparations are used in the treatment of liver and gallbladder diseases, as well as a means of tonic activity of the gastrointestinal tract.
The active properties of barberry allow the berries to be used in France as a stimulant of the digestive tract, as well as an antiliver, antibacterial and blood pressure-lowering agent.
In England, common barberry is used for internal bleeding and as a styptic to replace Canadian yellowroot.
Berries are used to treat acute gastrointestinal diseases, especially diarrhea and vomiting in pregnant women, as a tonic and in the treatment of morphinism.
In Austrian medicine, common barberry is used for liver and gallbladder diseases, as a choleretic, for diarrhea and as a high vitamin (C) preparation. Roots, bark and fruits of the plant are used in the form of syrup, decoction, mousse and fresh fruits, which contain malic acid, sugars, tannins, ascorbic acid. They have no odor, the taste is somewhat sour, tart.
In the GDR fruit barberry used in the form of decoction, tincture and syrup for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, especially with coughs, with diseases of the mouth and throat in the form of gargles and open wounds.
In Poland, the leaves of common barberry are one of the favorite medicinal remedies. Treatment barberry is used for various diseases accompanied by bleeding, liver disease, stomach disease, as well as diseases associated with a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the body.
In domestic folk medicine, fruits and root bark of common barberry are used as a styptic and antidiarrheal and choleretic, as well as an appetite stimulant. In Transbaikalia it is used as a diaphoretic and as an astringent for diarrhea. In folk medicine of Uzbekistan, the properties of barberry oblong are used to strengthen the heart muscle in neurasthenia and as an antipyretic, thirst-quencher and antidiarrheal agent; decoction from the roots is recommended for rheumatism, fever, eye and mouth diseases.
Young leaves can be used in place of sorrel to make green soups; the fruit, fresh and dried, is put into soups to impart a sour flavor; immature fruit can substitute for capers, and the pulp of mature fruit can substitute for lemon. In Holland, the young fresh leaves are used in salad. The fruit is used to make syrup, jam, marmalade, mousse. The fruit is widely used in the confectionery industry and distillery. The fruit can be pickled and sauteed.
We use barberry leaves as an anti-inflammatory, diuretic and choleretic, and the bark is used for biliary stone disease..
