Local Names

Colombia: Espino, Espino de oro, Espuelo, Quilache, Tachuelo, Uña de gato, Arrasquillo, Chinia, Espuela, Casha; Ecuador: Espuelas kasha (Spanish-Kichwa) (de la Torre et al. 2008); Peru: Palo amarillo; English: Barberry

Botany and Ecology

A spiny shrub with flexuous, terete, glabrous branchlets and 2–3-fid spines. These are 1.5 mm thick at the base, 7 mm long, strongly curved; petioles slender, 1–2.5 cm long, minutely puberulent, about five fasciculate; leaves subrotund, usually deeply cordate at the base, 3–4 cm long and broad, chartaceous, slightly lustrous above but scarcely veiny, dull, papillose, prominently reticulate-veined beneath, and undulate-spinulose-dentate; flowers in peduncled corymbs or subpaniculate, granular-pulverulent, 5 mm long; pedicels 10 mm long; stamens 3.5 mm long; connective obtuse; stigma capitate (Macbride and Weberbauer 1936–1995) (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Berberis barbeyana (Berberidaceae), Uchumarca, Peru. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 2
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Berberis barbeyana (Berberidaceae), Uchumarca, Peru. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 3
figure 3

Berberis beauverdiana (Berberidaceae), Uchumarca, Peru. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 4
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Berberis jelskiana (Berberidaceae), Uchumarca, Peru. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 5
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Berberis jelskiana (Berberidaceae), Uchumarca, Peru. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 6
figure 6

Berberis sp. (Berberidaceae), Uchumarca, Peru. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 7
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Berberis rigidifolia (Berberidaceae), Uchumarca, Peru. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Local Medicinal Uses

The roots are used in Colombia to treat fevers, as a purgative, as a tonic, against excessive sweating, and especially the root is used to stop bleeding (García Barriga 1974; Pérez Arbeláez 1996). Other species like Berberis glauca and Berberis goudotii are used for constipation, fevers, hemorrhages, as sudorific, to treat malaria, and as skin tonic (Bussmann et al. 2018); Ecuador: The fruit is used in refrigerating syrups (unspecified ethnic group-Azuay, Cañar) (de la Torre et al. 2008). Berberis buceronis is used in Peru for liver problems and hepatitis (Bussmann and Sharon 2006, 2015a, b; Monigatti et al. 2013), respiratory and nervous system disorders, and gynecological problems (Bussmann and Glenn 2010a, b; Bussmann et al. 2010a, 2011a). The plants show antibacterial properties (Bussmann et al. 2010b), and essentially no toxicity (Bussmann et al. 2011b). Most material is used in mixtures with other species (Bussmann et al. 2010c). Packages labeled as “Berberis vulgaris” are distributed to patients in the Peruvian social security health system, and Berberis species are widely sold in markets (Bussmann et al. 2007a, b, 2008, 2009).

Berberis species are used as medicinal plants worldwide, e.g., in India and Pakistan, where Berberis asiatica fruits are used as mild laxative for children, the roots and bark as astringent, stomatic, diaphoretic, and to remedy piles (Bhat et al. 2015; Joshi et al. 2010), with similar uses reported by Singh et al. (2017); and Berberis lyceum for eye problems and piles (Joshi et al. 2010); in Nepal, B. asiatica is used for eye problems (Kunwar et al. 2013, 2015).

Local Food Uses

Ecuador: The tender fruit is used in pickles (unspecified ethnic group-Azuay, Cañar) (de la Torre et al. 2008). Berberis fruits are widely used in the Caucasus especially for sauces (Bussmann et al. 2016a).

Local Handicraft and Other Uses

Ecuador: The root is used as a dye because it contains yellow berberine (unspecified ethnicity – Azuay, Cañar) (de la Torre et al. 2008). The plant is used as a living fence (Mestiza-Tungurahua) (de la Torre et al. 2008).