Barberry

Berberis vulgaris

HRB-0023Entry “BARBERRY” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

Open in the Concordance

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernEFSA: berbamine, berberine, isotetrandrine and 3 moreEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Mars, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 10, under 10 headings

  1. AguesCLM-000010
    It is excellent for hot agues, burnings, scaldings, heat of the blood, heat of the liver, bloody-flux;
    QUO-000010Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. Agues — HotCLM-000060
    It is excellent for hot agues, burnings, scaldings, heat of the blood, heat of the liver, bloody-flux;
    QUO-000010Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. It is excellent for hot agues, burnings, scaldings, heat of the blood, heat of the liver, bloody-flux;
    QUO-000010Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. Bloody FluxCLM-000213
    It is excellent for hot agues, burnings, scaldings, heat of the blood, heat of the liver, bloody-flux;
    QUO-000010Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. BoilsCLM-0002661850 index
    The inner rind of the Barberry-tree boiled in white wine, and a quarter of a pint drank each morning, is an excellent remedy to cleanse the body of choleric humours, and free it from such diseases as choler causes, such as scabs, itch, tetters, ringworms, yellow jaundice, boils, &c.
    QUO-000231Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  6. JaundiceCLM-000995
    The inner rind of the Barberry-tree boiled in white wine, and a quarter of a pint drank each morning, is an excellent remedy to cleanse the body of choleric humours, and free it from such diseases as choler causes, such as scabs, itch, tetters, ringworms, yellow jaundice, boils, &c.
    QUO-000231Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  7. Jaundice — YellowCLM-0010671850 index
    The inner rind of the Barberry-tree boiled in white wine, and a quarter of a pint drank each morning, is an excellent remedy to cleanse the body of choleric humours, and free it from such diseases as choler causes, such as scabs, itch, tetters, ringworms, yellow jaundice, boils, &c.
    QUO-000231Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  8. LiverCLM-001159
    It is excellent for hot agues, burnings, scaldings, heat of the blood, heat of the liver, bloody-flux;
    QUO-000010Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  9. Ring-wormCLM-0023991850 index, p. 16
    The inner rind of the Barberry-tree boiled in white wine, and a quarter of a pint drank each morning, is an excellent remedy to cleanse the body of choleric humours, and free it from such diseases as choler causes, such as scabs, itch, tetters, ringworms, yellow jaundice, boils, &c.
    QUO-000231Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  10. StomachCLM-001571
    they get a man a good stomach to his victuals, by strengthening the attractive faculty which is under Mars.
    QUO-001044Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.