Berberis sikkimensis

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

Edible Parts: Fruit Edible Uses: Fruit - raw or cooked. A fairly acid flavour, it is acceptable raw in small quantities, and children seem to like it. Generally, though, most people will prefer to cook it.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. It grows in mixed forests between 2,000-3,000 m above sea level. In Yunnan.

Asia, Bhutan, China, Himalayas, India, Nepal, Northeastern India, Sikkim, Tibet,

How to Identify

A shrub. It loses many leaves during the year. It grows to 2.5 m tall. The shoots are pale yellow. It has spines. The leaves are 2-3 cm long by 5-10 mm wide. They are yellow-green underneath. There are 3-20 flowers in a group. The fruit are dark red berries. They are narrowly oval and 15 mm long by 4.5 mm wide.

How to Grow

Prefers a warm moist loamy soil and light shade but it is by no means fastidious, succeeding in thin, dry and shallow soils. Grows well in heavy clay soils. This species is closely related to B. chitria. Hybridizes freely with other members of this genus. Plants can be pruned back quite severely and resprout well from the base.

Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame, when it should germinate in late winter or early spring. Seed from over-ripe fruit will take longer to germinate, whilst stored seed may require cold stratification and should be sown in a cold frame as early in the year as possible. The seedlings are subject to damping off, so should be kept well ventilated. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick them out into individual pots and grow them on in a cold frame. If growth is sufficient, it can be possible to plant them out into their permanent positions in the autumn, but generally it is best to leave them in the cold frame for the winter and plant them out in late spring or early summer of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Cuttings of mature wood of the current season's growth, preferably with a heel, October/November in a frame. Suckers, removed in late autumn/early winter and planted out in situ or potted up and planted out in late spring.

Medicinal Uses

Antibacterial Cancer Dysentery Berberine, universally present in rhizomes of Berberis species, has marked antibacterial effects. Since it is not appreciably absorbed by the body, it is used orally in the treatment of various enteric infections, especially bacterial dysentery. It should not be used with Glycyrrhiza species (Liquorice) because this nullifies the effects of the berberine. Berberine has also shown antitumour activity.

Other Uses

Dye A yellow dye is obtained from the root. Special Uses

Berberis sikkimensis is a plant species native to the high Himalayas at elevations of 2000–3000 m. It is known from Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and Yunnan. Berberis sikkimensis is a shrub up to 250 cm tall, with pale yellow spines up to 20 mm long on the younger twigs. Leaves are egg-shaped, up to 25 mm long, leathery, heavily whitened with a waxy layer below. Inflorescence is a panicle or raceme of up to 20 flowers. Berries are dark red, narrowly egg-shaped, up to 15 mm long.

Notes

There are about 450-500 Berberis species.

More from Berberidaceae

Achlys triphylla

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Berberis aristata

Indian barberry, Nepal Barberry