Barberries

Berberis vulgaris, natural order, berberidacaea. It is a well-known plant, the berries having come much into use lately for making tarts and pies. They are a pleasant acidulous fruit, and may be eaten with safety. The barberry is found wild in hedges in some parts of england; but it is common everywhere in gardens; it grows eight or ten feet high. The bark is whitish, with abundance of prickles about the branches. The leaves are oval, indented about the hedges, and of strong green colour. The flowers are small, of a pale yellow colour; the stamens have a remarkable sensibility, when touched by anything, towards the pistillum. The leaves are tender, and very subject to the rubigo, which will infest the corn in its neighbourhood. The berries are oblong, red, and acid in taste.

The inner rind of the barberry tree boiled in white wine cleanses the body from choleric humours, from scabs, itch, ringworms, inflammation of the liver, and dysentery. The bark of the stem infused in beer, has the reputation of curing the jaundice, for it is tonic, and deobstruent. The dose of the infusion is from 1 to 2 ounces twice a day. The berries are cooling, antiscorbutic, and deobstruent, containing malic and citric acid. They are very useful in all inflammatory fevers, especially typhus fever, and bilious disorders, and scurvy.

The fruit in the form of jam is very refreshing in acute diseases. The active principle of the bark, called berberine, is tonic, and in large doses, laxative. It is an excellent remedy for dyspepsia, with functional derangement of the liver. The dose is from 4 to 10 grains; if more is given, it acts as a purgative. It is an excellent gargle for sore mouth from any cause. The bark dyes a beautiful yellow.