''Berberis asiatica'' (Indian or Asian barberry), is a species of

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

, in the family Berberidaceae. It is native to the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

(East and West Himalaya), India (including

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

region), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Tibet. It is found in subtropical to temperate regions, and at altitudes of above sea level. ''B. asiatica'' is an upright, spiny and glabrous bush. It has blood-red coloured fruit. It was first published in Syst. Nat. 2: 13 in 1821. The name has been verified by

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

and the

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

on 2 January 2003. Its fruit has potential

nutraceutical A nutraceutical or bioceutical is a pharmaceutical alternative which claims physiological benefits. In the US, "nutraceuticals" are largely unregulated, as they exist in the same category as dietary supplements and food additives by the FDA, unde ...

values. Extracts from the fruit possesses a potential source of polyphenolic, mainly

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...

compounds, which can be used for treating inflammation diseases (Neag et al. 2018).

References

Other sources

* Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. 1988. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials and industrial products. Raw materials (revised edition). 2:114-117. * Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. 2000. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials and industrial products. First supplementary series (raw materials). New Delhi 1:135. * Grierson, A. J. C. & D. J. Long. 1984-. Flora of Bhutan including a record of plants from Sikkim. * Hara, H. et al. 1978–1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal. * Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening * Sharma, B. D. et al., eds. 1993-. Flora of India. * Walters, S. M. et al., eds. 1986–2000. European garden flora. asiatica Flora of Tibet Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Myanmar Plants described in 1821 {{Ranunculales-stub