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Spices & |
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| HERBS | |
| SPICES |
Ajwain
:: Allspice ::
Bay Leaf ::
Black Cardamon ::
Green Cardamon ::
Cinnamon ::
Cloves ::
Cumin ::
Cayenne Pepper
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| VEGETABLES |
Barberry commonly known as berbery, European barberry,holy thorn and sowberry.
It comes from the roots, wood, bark of Mahonia Vulgaris and
M.Aquitolium.
Barberry is an erect, deciduous shrub which has grey and thorny branches.
It is genus of about 400-450 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs and
native to the temperate and subtropical regions Europe, north America,
south America, Asia and Africa.
Mahonia is a popular landscape shrub and genus of barberry. The plants
have edible red, orange fruit like berries. The bright yellow flowers
bloom in the late spring, become dark drooping bunches of red berries to
fall.
Barberry is thorny plant with red orange fruit like berries. It is a
deciduous scrubby shrub with gray yellow grooved stem and yellow roots.
It bears three pronged spines and toothed leaves with yellow flowers and
oval red fruits. Its leaves are about two inches long and one-third wide.
This plant herb goes 1-5 m tall with thorny shoots. The deciduous species
(b.vulgaris, berberis thunbergii) are noted for good autumn color, the
leaves turn pink or red before falling. In some evergreen species in
china, leaves turn white making it more attractive.
The flowers grow singly or in more numbers up to 20 on one flower head.
They are red or yellow orange of about 3-6mm long.
The small fruit berry is 5-15mm long, ripening red or dark blue often
with a pink or violet waxy surface bloom.
IBarberry is a medicinal and poisonous as well. Its main agent
'berberine' is known to have therapeutically effects.
It is not only grown as a medicinal herb, but in gardens too. Its fruit
collected during the autumn while the bark is collected both in the spring
and autumn.
It is naturalized in northern Europe, including British Isles,
Scandinavian, and North America. It is also grown in other parts of Asia
and Africa.
Root bark, stem bark, fruit- berries
The stem, root bark and fruit of barberry contain chemicals like
isoquinoline and protoberberin alkaloids including berberine, columbamine
and palmatine. While ripe berries are free if alkaloids.
This herb also contains B-vitamin thiamine, vitaminC, and zinc.
Berberis vulgaris is mostly used for medicinal purpose than in food.
Barberries have therapeutic uses as it contains berberine alkaloids.
It relieves from infection, skin disorders and various other diseases-
