Barberry
Plant
Barberry - a large genus of shrubs, less often trees, of the Barberry family
Distribution and ecology
It is bred in gardens and is occasionally found between shrubs in the north to St. Petersburg, as well as in southern and central Europe, the Crimea, the Caucasus, Iran, Eastern Siberia, and North America. Some species are found in Central Asia, including in the mountains of the Trans-Ili Alatau in Kazakhstan.
Winter-hardy, heat-resistant; can be content with poor soil; stagnant moisture is not tolerated; quite light-loving. They give abundant shoots from the stump.
Propagated by sowing seeds, dividing the bush and summer cuttings. Seeds should be stratified immediately after harvest or sown before winter. Seed collection time - September - November. Seedlings with aboveground elliptical thickish green cotyledons 9-12 (15) mm long and 4-8 mm wide; the first leaves are much smaller than the subsequent ones and differ from them in shape.
Botanical description
Barberry common. Botanical illustration from O. W. Thome's book Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885
Blooming Berberis chinensis
Evergreen, semi-evergreen (partially deciduous) or deciduous shrubs, rarely small trees, with thin, erect, ribbed shoots branching at an acute angle. The bark is brownish or brownish-gray.
Kidneys 3-7 mm long, naked or with small, about 1-2 mm long, sharp scales; in evergreen species, the outer bud scales remain at the base of the new shoot. Whorled leaf arrangement; leaves are collected in bunches, 4 (2-7) on shortened shoots. Leaves ovate, lanceolate, elliptical or obovate, articulating with a short petiole, glabrous, mostly bluish-green above, bluish below, lighter, prickly-toothed, finely ciliated or entire. Stipules are foliate, prickly-toothed or turned into 1-3-5-segmented spines, larger and more powerful on root offspring.
flower diagram
Flowers in racemes on short lateral branches, rarely in few-flowered bunches at the top of shortened shoots. The sepals are eight to nine, colored and therefore similar to petals, the outer ones are much smaller. Corolla of six yellow petals, each with two nectaries at the base. Stamens 6; pistil 1, with a short style, single-celled ovary with a few ovules.
The fruit is a berry, elliptical, ovoid or almost spherical, 0.8-1.2 cm long, black or red, with a dried stigma remaining, with one to five seeds. Seeds are terete, ribbed, narrowed at both ends, brown, shiny, 4-6 mm long, 1.8-3 mm wide.
Significance and application
Berberis trifoliolata fruits
From the bark, roots and wood, you can get a yellow paint, similar to gummigut.
Of all fruit crops, barberry contains the most acids - up to 14.25%.[2] Edible berries contain malic acid, citric acid and tartaric acid. Previously used in pharmacies radix berberidis and cortex berberidis.
Leaves are used for marinades, berries - for making drinks, jams, marshmallows and sweets.
Dried berries are often used as seasonings for rice dishes: risotto, sweet rice porridge, lamb pilaf.
Many species are honey-bearing. Barberry honey is golden yellow, with a delicate sweet taste[3].
Holds up well to haircuts. Widely used for borders and edging, as well as for hedges. Abundantly bloom and bear fruit; in autumn they have yellow and red foliage. Berries of many species remain on the branches for a long time.
Wood
The wood is sapwood, bright or pale yellow, often with a brown false heartwood, annular. Annual rings are clearly visible, sometimes wavy. The rays are homogeneous, from two to eight rows, visible on all cuts. Vessels with simple perforation. Intervascular porosity is another. Within the genus, the structure of wood is more or less uniform.
Hard dense wood with a high bulk density (0.70-0.90) is used for small turning products and for shoe nails, sometimes for inlay work. It has a peculiar color and decorative (mirror or scaly) texture. Himalayan species of barberry are widely used by Indian craftsmen for inlay and mosaic work.
Classification
Taxonomy
The genus Barberry is included in the tribe Barberry (Berberideae) of the subfamily Barberry (Berberidoideae) of the family Barberry (Berberidaceae) of the order Ranunculales.
Kinds
Main article: Species of the genus Barberry
According to the database The Plant List, the genus includes 580 species [4]. Some of them:
Berberis actinacantha mart. ex Schult. & Schult.f. - prickly barberry
Berberis acuminata Franch. - Barberry pointed
Berberis aemulans C.K. Schneid. - Barberry imitating
Berberis aetnensis C.Presl - Etna barberry
Berberis aggregata C.K. Schneid. – Aggregate barberry
Berberis amurensis Rupr. - Amur barberry
Berberis aristata DC. - Barberry spinous
Berberis asiatica Roxb. ex DC. - Asian barberry
Berberis brachypoda Maxim. - Barberry short-legged
Berberis canadensis Mill. - Canadian barberry
Berberis candidula (C.K. Schneid.) C.K. Schneid. - Barberry gray-white
Berberis circumserrata (C.K. Schneid.) C.K. Schneid. - Barberry kruglospilchaty
Berberis concinna Hook.f. & Thomson - Barberry slender
Berberis crataegina DC. – hawthorn barberry
Berberis cretica L. - Cretan barberry
Berberis diaphana Maxim. — Barberry transparent
Berberis dictyophylla Franch. - Reticulate barberry
Berberis francisciferdinandi C.K. Schneid. - Barberry Francis Ferdinand
Berberis gagnepainii C.K. Schneid. — Barberry Ganyepena
Berberis giraldii Hesse - Barberry Giralda
Berberis heteropoda Schrenk
Berberis ilicifolia G. Forst. - Holly barberry
Berberis iliensis Popov - Ili barberry
Berberis integerrima Bunge
Berberis jamesiana Forrest & W.W.Sm. — Barberry James
Berberis julianae C.K. Schneid. — Barberry Juliana
Berberis kaschgarica Rupr. – Kashgar barberry
Berberis levis Franch. - tender barberry
Berberis lycium Royle
Berberis nummularia Bge. - Barberry coin, or Barberry coin-like
Berberis oblonga (Regel) C.K. Schneid. - Barberry oblong
Berberis pachyacantha Koehne
Berberis petiolaris Wall. ex G.Don - petiolate barberry
Berberis poiretii C.K. Schneid. — Barberry Poiret
Berberis polyantha Hemsl. - Barberry multiflora
Berberis prattii C.K. Schneid. — Barberry Pratt
Berberis pruinosa Franch. - gray barberry
Berberis sargentiana C.K. Schneid. — Barberry Sargent
Berberis sibirica Pall. — Siberian barberry
Berberis sieboldii Miq. — Barberry Siebold
Berberis stolonifera Koehne et Wolf
Berberis thunbergii DC. — Barberry Thunberg
Berberis veitchii C.K. Schneid. — Barberry Vicha
Berberis vernae C.K. Schneid. — Spring barberry
Berberis verruculosa Hemsl. & E.H.Wilson - Warty barberry
Berberis virescens Hook.f. & Thomson - Greenish barberry
Berberis vulgaris L. - common barberry
Berberis wallichiana DC. — Barberry Wallich
Berberis wilsoniae Hemsl. — Barberry Wilson
Berberis yunnanensis Franch. – Yunnan barberry
The species Barberry boxwood (Berberis buxifolia Lam.) is recognized as a synonym for the species Berberis microphylla G.Forst..
Oriental barberry species (Berberis orientalis Schneid.) is recognized as a synonym for common barberry species (Berberis vulgaris L.).
