Barberry is the shrub without thorn that has about  1 to 5 meters length. The wood of this plant is brown, red or yellow. The leaves of this plant are in oval shape with saw teeth and the fruit of that is in the oval shape, red and sour. The root of this plant with the special name of “Aertkhis” has its own properties for itself.

At the end of spring and at first of summer is the time of blossom this kind of shrub.

Yellow buds of berries in the autumn coming to have red colour for themselves.

Berry is the native of temperate and subtropical regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America. Iran is the world’s largest producer of barberry, that among them Khorasan provinces and Qaenat city with having nearly 97 percents of the cultivated lands for themselves, has about 95 percent of this product in hand.

Medicinal properties

Root, Skin, Stem

Bran and the roots of  Berry contain chemicals called alkaloids Ayzukuyynulyn. This combination has Antibiotic properties. Some of these properties contain:

• Lower fever
• Reduce swelling
• Reduce blood pressure
• Arrange Heart rate
• Heart muscle contraction

This plant also has these benefits as follow:

• It is useful to dispel dysuria.
• It is useful to treat varicose veins.
• Relieve Gout and rheumatism.
• Relieve anorexia.
• Regulates acts of the digestive system and eliminate indigestion.
• It is effective for the treatment of Neonatal jaundice and jaundice.
• Those who are suffering from swelling of the spleen can use from this plant for treatment.
• It is beneficial for the treatment of hemorrhoids.
• You can use the boiled root and stem of the barberry to wash your eyes with them.

Leaf

• It is cure chronic diarrhea.
• The leaf of Berry has lots of C vitamin.
• At the time of angina and sore throat gargle the barberry brewed leaves.
• Consuming large amounts of stem and leaf of Barberry is not suitable for the pregnant women.
• The high amount of use of this plant for a long time can cause gastrointestinal upset and make it difficult to absorb vitamin B in the body.
• Chewing Barberry leaves, causing tightening the gums and teeth.

Fruit

Barberry

Addiction Treatment

Due to the available alkaloid berberine in the barberry plant, it can treat the addiction with Opium and addicts on its sides.  In addition that this effectiveness in laboratory animals which had been artificially addicted to morphine repeatedly proven.

Botanical Barberry

Barberry and its relationship with the natural environment

Different kinds of grainy Barberries as the fruity and grow by themselves shrub can be seen in the most mountain parts of our country and as this is one of the natural parts of the environments of mountain place even in the unfavorable conditions it produces abundant fruit.

Water requirement

The requirement of net irrigation of this kind of plant is about 9900 cubic meters in Hectare that are employed depending on the irrigation methods and the gross irrigation is more than this amount.

Fertilizer needs

Without seed, Barberry wants relatively light soils loamy – sandy with good drainage in the submontane. They grow very well in plaster and calcareous soils. Also, it tolerates high EC PH and doesn’t need rich soil. The researches show that the used Phosphorus in Summer was not the reason for growing the plants in that year and it shows its effects in the spring of the next year and most of the Phosphorus in the new grow was from the Phosphorus that they were in the roots of the plant from the past. The transfer process of Phosphorus id in this way that first of all most of it is gathering in the roots and after that goes to the new place of growing and the new phosphorus that is absorbed will come to be alternative of the last one that was in the root.

Barberry in the traditional medicine

Barberry contain both hot and cold disposition and its peacemakers contain as follow:

• Cloves
• Red sugar
• Natural sweets and …

Barberry is soothing bile, blood, thirst and heat of the stomach and liver and it is making the heart and liver that contain the hot disposition of this plant. This plant is only with the hot medicines such as honey and Cinnamon and … is good for the strengthening the liver and open obstruction of hepatic the ducts is the cold feature of Barberry.  It has also contained beneficial for cold viscera.

Consuming too much of this plant is not good and harmful for the people who they have cold nature of mucus and sodium.

Barberry cultivation in Khorasan province

This kind of product is farming in the Khorasan province especially in Ghaen, and under the Mountain of  Ghaen such as Afin village and the other villages of there and the distance of that until the center of Khorasan province is about 100 to 110 Kilometers.

Khorasan province has the top position in the production of Barberry in between all provinces of whole Iran. After Khorasan Mazandaran especially Tonecabon with producing the beautiful barberry has the second position in Iran. It is important to know that the Beautiful Barberry is only for making the environment and the yard beautiful and they don’t have too much fruit.