Berberis vulgaris L., Barberry

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

The deciduous, sharp spiny shrub B. vulgaris typically grows in hedgerows, scrub banks, coppice woodland and on waste ground. Being a very spiny shrub, at quite a late stage in history, Barberry was widely planted for hedging.

Secondary host of plant pathogen

Barberry happens to be the secondary host plant of Puccinia graminis, the pathogenic fungus which causes black stem rust of wheat and other grasses. When this was realised in 1865, Barberry was eradicated in some countries (eg Denmark and in parts of N America), thus providing some degree of cereal disease control. According to Rackham (1986, pp. 42-3), Barberry is not necessary to the life-cycle of the fungus in England (and presumably elsewhere in Britain and Ireland). Although farmers have from time-to-time removed the shrub from field hedgerows, Rackham (1986), who appears to think chiefly or entirely in terms of S England, considers it unlikely that B. vulgaris was ever common, nor was it much diminished by these intermittent eradication measures.

Flowering

The drooping bunches of small lemon-yellow flowers which appear in May and June are sweetly and delicately scented, and their abundant nectar readily attracts bees and flies as pollinators (Genders 1971; Lang 1987). Interestingly, the six anther filaments in each flower display an instantaneous reaction, moving inwards when touched by an insect visitor and thus dabbing pollen on to it, ie they are not just elastic and under tension, but rather they are tactile or 'touchy', a feature we associate very much more with animals than with plants! In his book The action plant, Simons (1992) deals with the phenomenon of flower 'irritability' in great detail. He describes the mechanism of the reversible touch-sensitive stamens of Berberis involving biochemistry and transferred electrical impulses and motor cells, exactly comparable to these processes in animal nerve tissue but, of course, minus the actual nerve cells (Simons 1992, pp. 35-39 & 240).

Fruit dispersal

The red berries attract birds and at least nine species have been recorded eating them (Lang 1987), chiefly members of the thrush and crow families (Ridley 1930). They are, however, very acid, and apparently are not popular with them for this reason, but cattle, sheep and goats are known to eat them, and in N America after the shrub was introduced by settlers, stock animals are reputed to have dispersed the seed with their dung (Ridley 1930, p. 365).

Culinary, medicinal and other uses

Barberry was a much cultivated shrub in medieval times, the ripe red, egg-shaped berries borne in clusters of about ten, making a delicious, if somewhat tart jam or dessert jelly. The berries were also candied and eaten as sweets and they were used to flavour punch. The bark has an unforgettable bright yellow 'blaze' on its interior when cut with a knife. It was used to tan leather and to colour it yellow. Above all else, in terms of uses for the plant, the yellow inner bark of both stem and root was medicinally prized as a cure for jaundice following the well known 'Doctrine of Signs' or 'Signatures' (Grigson 1987; Vickery 1995). The Berberis jaundice cure was also extended in unspecified areas of Ireland from humans to cattle (Allen & Hatfield 2004).

Toxicity

While the ripe berries are edible and contain high levels of vitamin C, unripe they are distinctly poisonous, containing the alkaloid berberine and at least three other toxins. The highest content of berberine is actually present in the bark, but the seed (especially that of related cultivated species and varieties), should also be avoided. Berberine (which is also present in species of Thalictrum) is an antibacterial gastric and mucosal irritant, causing vomiting and diarrhoea if large quantities are ingested. Berberine can depress respiration by acting on the central nervous system, and it can also cause uterine contractions. THUS IT IS DANGEROUS TO EAT THE BERRIES, AND ESPECIALLY SO FOR PREGNANT WOMEN (Lang 1987). Having said this, no authenticated cases of either animal or human poisoning by any part of the plant were uncovered by Cooper & Johnson (1998).

Barberry it is still very much used in herbal medicine and homeopathy for a wide range of complaints (see below). In its favour, Cooper & Johnson (1998) report that the pharmacological activity of berberine to treat some cancer tumours is currently being investigated.

Fermanagh occurrence

There have only ever been four stations recorded for the plant in Fermanagh. The one found by Meikle and co-workers at Gubbaroe Point on the shore of Lower Lough Erne very probably fell victim to forestry plantation operations in the vicinity soon after its discovery. The details of other three more recent stations are: hedge E of Clonagore Td, near the old Ulster Canal, 23 August 1996, RHN; hedge at Clonelly, NW of Kesh, 17 March 1999, RHN & HJN; and several large bushes in front of old castle at Castle Caldwell, 11 November 2006, RHN.

British and Irish occurrence and status

For all of the above reasons, in Ireland, B. vulgaris is regarded (at least probably) as a deliberately planted introduction, whereas in Britain it might either be a native or an archaeophyte (T.D. Dines, in: Preston et al. 2002). In Britain, the 1962 BSBI Atlas and its 1976 revised edition, recorded B. vulgaris as being quite a frequent and widespread species. Indeed, the New Atlas displays the plant as even more widespread in Britain than the earlier BSBI Atlas map, thinning out now only N of Glasgow and Edinburgh (BSBI Atlas; New Atlas).

Formerly in Ireland, Barberry was much more frequent, but it is now very rare and widely scattered, having been most successfully extirpated for disease prevention during the 19th century (Cat Alien Pl Ir).

European and World occurrence

Beyond the British Isles, B. vulgaris is considered native in C Europe by Jonsell et al. (2001), but it also extends over most other temperate parts of the continent, although absent in the far north and around the Mediterranean (Lang 1987). Other botanists consider it a native of Asia's middle and western mountains (Royer & Dickenson 1999). I believe it is best considered an archaeophyte in most of W Europe (ie it is an ancient or very long-standing introduction). Grieve (1931) regarded the range of the species included N Africa, but the N Hemisphere distribution published by Hultén & Fries (1986) does not support this idea (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 886). In all these regions, as in Britain and Ireland, it is difficult to distinguish where the shrub is naturalised, from areas where it is supposed or imagined to be native. Barberry is introduced in N America, and it has spread there from coast to coast. It has also been recorded in New Zealand.

Names

The genus name 'Berberis' is thought by some to be the Latinised form of the Arabic word for the fruit of the plant, 'berberys' (Chicheley Plowden 1972; Stearn 1992), in some way signifying a shell (Grieve 1931). Other writers consider it simply a geographical reference to the Barbery coast of N Africa (eg Gledhill 1985). Gilbert-Carter (1964) plays it safe, regarding the name as, "a medieval Latin word of doubtful origin". The Latin specific epithet, 'vulgaris', meaning 'common' is certainly inappropriate in Ireland, and perhaps this is becoming the case elsewhere since the species is regarded as declining in Great Britain (Change Index calculated as -0.61) (T.D. Dines, in: Preston et al. 2002).

There are at least nine English common names for the plant, several referring to its supposed jaundice cure mentioned above, eg 'Jaundice Tree', 'Jaunders Tree' and 'Jaunders Berry' (Grigson 1987). There are records of this jaundice cure from all over Britain and Ireland (Allen & Hatfield 2004).

The name 'Barberry', which we have already mentioned in connection with its Latinised genus name, has several local variants around the British Isles, for example, 'Berberry', Barbaryn', 'Barboranne' and 'Berber'. The remarkable yellow inner bark and wood is undoubtedly the origin of the name 'Guild' or 'Guild Tree', while 'Woodsour', 'Woodsore' and 'Woodsower' are applied to both B. vulgaris and Oxalis acetosella (Wood-sorrel) on account of their woodland habitat and sour taste (Britten & Holland 1886).

The remaining suite of about eight variant names centres on 'Piperidge' and includes 'Pipricks', 'Piprage' and 'Pepperidge'. Prior (1879) reckons that this is derived from the French 'pepin', a pip and 'rouge', red, a reference to the fruit which he considers rather small and lacking in juice, and hence a pip rather than a berry!

Threats

Deliberate destruction in the mistaken belief that it is necessary to do so to limit the spread of cereal rust.

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