Spiny shrubs; wood yellow; stems terete, angled or sulcate, usually spiny; spines 3 - 5-fid (modified leaves); shoots long and short. Leaves simple, but usually with a joint at
the junction of blade and petiole, in fascicles or whorls, each of which is attached at a node and protected by spines, the long shoots have their leaves metamorphosed into
spines, with the transitions often conspicuous; the short shoots in the axils of spines bear
clusters of green leaves. Flowers yellow, bisexual, fascicled, racemed or solitary. Sepals
6 - 12, imbricate in 2 - 4 whorls, with 2 - 3 appressed bracts. Petals 6, imbricate in 2 series,
usually with 2 basal glands inside. Stamens 6 or 3; anther-locules opening by recurved
valves. Ovary simple; stigma peltate, sessile or on a short style; ovules few, basal, erect.
Berry few-seeded.
India, Pakistan, W. & C. Asia, China, Japan, S.E. Asia and E. Africa; ca 450 species,
54 species in India.
Literature.
AHRENDT, L. W. A. (1941 - 45) A survey of the genus Berberis L in Asia· New and old species from Bhutan, Assam, southern Tibet, Upper Burma and N. W. Yunnan in their relationship to the analytical framework of the genus. J. Bot. suppl. 79: 1 - 116. CHATTERJEE, R. (1949) The Rasanjana of the Hindus. Lloydia 12: 178 182 (The medicinal uses of Berberis). SCHNEIDER, C. K. (1905) Die Gattung Berberis (Euberberis). Mitt. Deutsch. Dendr. Ges. 14: 111 - 124. SCHNEIDER, C. K. (1942) Die Berberis der Section Wallichianeae. Mitt. Deutsch. Dendr. Ges. 55: 1 - 60.
