Barberry

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Barberry

Scientific Name: Berberis vulgaris

Uses: Liver Tonic

Part Used: Root

Barberry bushes are not often well-liked because they’re painful to the touch – as the name implies, they’re covered with barbs. What I didn’t realize, and what most homeowners with berberis in their front yards still don’t know, however, is that the barberry is one of the world’s most famous herbal health-givers.

If you have ever done any reading on herbalism, you are bound to have come across the ancient doctrine of signatures. This ancient notion holds that plants which look like an afflicted body part are bound to be good for that part because that is the way God reveals plants’ medicinal uses. For example, tomatoes look like a heart and were used to treat heart symptoms.

What does this have to do with our spiny friend? The barberry’s wood and roots are a distinctive electric yellow. The first symptom of a bad liver is yellowish skin, and during the days when herbalists followed the doctrine of signatures, liver malfunction was treated with barberry.

Much to my surprise, the barberry does, in fact, help the liver out in a big way. Its yellow root is used as a hepatic biliary stimulant because some of its elements enhance the flow of bile through the liver and gallbladder. As bile, the detergent of the liver, flows freely, the liver is able to cleanse the blood more effectively and filter out things like artificial preservatives, alcohol, and other environmental toxins. It’s one part of the body that you do not want to fool with. When the liver goes, so do you.

The principle chemical in barberry is berberine, a snappy item clinically proven to kill bacteria...

But barberry is good for more than the liver. A tidy list of its other uses includes treatment for: alcohol abuse, arthritis, bronchial congestion, cancer, general debility, gallstones, malaria, splenic enlargements, skin diseases, and tumors. It’s also effective as a stimulating digestive tonic.

Barberry is no newcomer on the scene of staying well – we are talking about a plant in constant use since before the crucifixion of Christ. Its family is large, with members on every continent, and all over the world barberries are used for maintaining strength and vitality. Modern herbalists feel that barberry root is so powerful that it should only be used occasionally. Like spring cleaning, you only want to do it every once in a while.

In North America, the native barberry is the Oregon Grape, Berberis aquifolium. It found its way into the pharmacopoeia of the United States after physicians learned of it from the Native Americans, and it was brought into common usage when Parke, Davis and Company, of Detroit, Michigan, offered a product containing this plant for sale to physicians in the late 1900s. The Native Americans gathered it in great quantities for tonic purposes. Oregon grape grows naturally with a plant called pipsissewa, and the two plants were used in combination to treat any acute or chronic illness. The Blackfeet Indians peeled the root, dried it, and used it in a tea to stop rectal hemorrhage and dysentery. One recipe for hepatitis included Oregon grape, dandelion, and fennel seed to make the mixture more palatable. The Native Americans also discovered that teas made with Oregon grape root cured people who suffered from recurrent fevers. In a nutshell, they used the Oregon grape to put the whistle back in people who had lost their zip. The point at which we moderns only have enough energy to watch the the television is the point at which the medicine man would hand us a bag of Oregon grape root and tell us to start boiling.

In the Southwest, colonials encountered yet another barberry, Palo Amarillo or Fremont’s barberry, Mahonia fremontii. A close relation to the Oregon grape, it is a tall shrub that looks like a holly tree with blue berries rather than red. Native Americans used it to treat tuberculosis, rheumatism, and jaundice. It was considered a cooling plant, and as such was appropriate for treating any fever, hepatitis and malaria included. In upstate New York, the colonials found a different barberry, the Canadian barberry, Berberis canadensis, which they used like all the other barberries around the world. In addition, the berries were cooked into pies and jellies, the tender greens were tossed into salads, and the wood was employed in the making of a bright yellow dye.

The Chinese, who use 17 different barberries in their medicine, have found that there is scientific basis for the plant’s reputation in promoting longevity. The principle chemical in barberry is berberine, a snappy item clinically proven to kill bacteria, stop diarrhea and convulsions, stimulate the uterus, and relax the smooth muscles of the intestine. What’s more, since berberine is not appreciably absorbed following oral administration, the alkaloids or extracts of plants containing it are often used for the treatment of various intestinal infections, especially bacillary dysentery. It also contains the important anticancer compounds dehydropodophyllotoxin and podophyllotoxin.

Along the lines of prolonging life, many of the barberries have been found to be aphrodisiac in nature – they are, apparently, so stimulating to the body that all it wants to do is procreate. Epimedium, considered the best in this vein, is said to increase the number of erections that can be had each night, the number of sperm in each ejaculate, and the volume of ejaculate itself. That’s interesting information, since when the body is healthy, a normal sex drive usually results. I guess we would have to call this a side effect – whether it’s an unpleasant or a pleasant one is subject to debate.

Prescription:

A personal favorite is to make barberry chutney. Add four cups of barberries to two cups of water and cook them down for about ten minutes. After straining the mixture through a spaghetti strainer to get the pits out, cook it down for another ten minutes, combine it with equal parts honey, and keep it in the refrigerator for times when your liver needs special attention