COMMON BARBERRY —
Berberis vulgaris L.
Barberry family — Berberidaceae
What does it look like? A prickly bush 1.5-2 m tall. Triple spines on weakly branched branches. The bark of young shoots is yellowish, gray after winter. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, up to 10 cm long, elliptic, somewhat leathery, finely toothed, grow in bundles on shortened shoots. Inflorescence is a bunch consisting of 10-25 pale yellow fragrant flowers. The fruit is dry, elliptoid, red, sour. Blooms in May – June. The fruits ripen in August – September.
Where does it grow? As a decorative bush in parks, hedges, also on the edge of the forest, on stony, but humus-rich soils of the steppe and forest-steppe zones, eventually (wildly and wildly) – throughout the territory of Ukraine, and also as a cultivated plant.
What and when are collected? Bark, flowers, leaves – in the spring, after flowering; berries – in autumn; roots — early spring or late fall
When is it used? In the form of tea for endometritis, hypotonia of the uterus after childbirth, for hepatic colic and gallstones, cholecystitis – in the cold period (reduces the tone of the gallbladder and reduces its spasms), for constipation and for spastic catarrh of the large intestine. Improves blood circulation, stops bleeding. Add a teaspoon of chopped bark, flowers or leaves to 1 cup of boiling water and infuse for 10 minutes. When the roots are taken, they boil it for 10 minutes. They drink 1 glass, in the morning and in the evening, in sips. Gout, rheumatism, and lumbago are also treated with the infusion of common barberry. Like quinine, it reduces fever, has a sedative and antimicrobial effect.
Barberry fruit juice helps with inflammation of the lungs, trachea, and cough. To do this, drink 1-2 tablespoons per day (rich in vitamin C). Reduces fever, quenches thirst. With an enlarged liver, steam is made from a mixture of barberry bark (roots and annual shoots), celandine grass and mint leaves in a ratio of 2.5: 1.5: 5. One tablespoon of the mixture is poured with a glass of boiling water and infused for 30 minutes. They drink 2-3 glasses a day. In case of insufficient function of the pancreas, 2 tablespoons of barberry barkand 1 tablespoon of bare licorice root pour 0.5 l of water, infuse overnight, boil for 5-7 minutes in the morning, strain and drink half a glass two or three times a day. Due to the fact that alkaloids berberine (and oxycanthin and palmatine, which are similar in action) contained in barberry bark, are similar in structure to opium alkaloids (only they do not have a narcotic effect), liquid extract from barberry bark is used to treat drug addiction caused by morphine abuse. To do this, use 25-30 drops of liquid extract per glass of water every 3 hours.
For cholecystitis, cholangitis, a decoction is prepared from a mixture of barberry root, dandelion root, wild chicory root and buckthorn bark in a ratio of 2:2:2:1. Boil 1 tablespoon of the mixture in 1 glass of water for 15 minutes and drink 3 glasses a day.
Bark tincture (1:4) is used externally – instill 2 drops twice a day into the ear for deafness.