Berberis asiatica explained

Berberis asiatica (Indian or Asian barberry), is a species of shrub, in the family Berberidaceae. It is native to the Himalayas (East and West Himalaya), India (including Himachal Pradesh region), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Tibet.^[1]

It is found in subtropical to temperate regions,^[2] and at altitudes of above sea level. B. asiatica is an upright, spiny and glabrous bush. It has blood-red coloured fruit.^[3]

It was first published in Syst. Nat. 2: 13 in 1821.^[1] The name has been verified by United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service on 2 January 2003.

Its fruit has potential nutraceutical values. Extracts from the fruit possesses a potential source of polyphenolic, mainly anthocyanin compounds, which can be used for treating inflammation diseases (Neag et al. 2018).^[4]

Other sources

• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. 1988. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials and industrial products. Raw materials (revised edition). 2:114-117.
• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. 2000. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials and industrial products. First supplementary series (raw materials). New Delhi 1:135.
• Grierson, A. J. C. & D. J. Long. 1984-. Flora of Bhutan including a record of plants from Sikkim.
• Hara, H. et al. 1978–1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal.
• Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening
• Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India.
• Walters, S. M. et al., eds. 1986–2000. European garden flora.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Berberis asiatica Roxb. ex DC. . 16 October 2023.
2. Web site: Shri . K.S. . Sharma . Y.P. . Pankaj . S. . Pratima . V. . Randhawa . S.S. . Wild edible fruits of Himachal Pradesh state centre on climate change & UNEP-GEF-MoEFCC project report. . 2018.
3. Bachheti . Archana . Deepti . Bachheti . Rakesh Kumar . Singh . Anjita . Zebeaman . Meseret . Hunde . Yilma . Husen . Azamal . Bioactive constituents and health promoting compounds of underutilized fruits of the northern Himalayas of India: a review . Food Production, Processing and Nutrition . 2023 . 5 . 24 . 10.1186/s43014-023-00140-5 . free .
4. Neag . M.A. . Mocan . A. . Echeverría . J. . Pop . R.M. . Bocsan . C.I. . Crişan . G. . Buzoianu . A.D. . Berberine: Botanical occurrence, traditional uses, extraction methods, and relevance in cardiovascular, metabolic, hepatic, and renal disorders . Frontiers in Pharmacology . 2018 . 9 . 557. 10.3389/fphar.2018.00557 . 30186157 . 6111450 . free .