Perennial Plant Profiles...

Berberis koreana, Korean barberry

We can think of at least 180 great forest garden & perennial crops for cold climate Sweden.  Want to hear about them? Over the course of the next year we will profile 5 a week on the blog. Perennial plants and crops offer a low energy, oil & resource input based foundation for future-proof agricultures. By default if an agriculture is to be called regenerative the bottom line is that it must be soil building, not soil depleting. Relentless deep tillage & poor soil husbandry (wifery?!) contributes to the majority of the 24 billion tons of topsoil lost every year on planet water.  We are going to be focused on holistic polyculture grazing and perennial production at ridgedale over most of the site as this represents the most effective way to restore our degraded landscape, produce high value produce and ensure the future resource base we are managing holistically for in our decision making. 

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Genus Berberis
Species koreana 
Common Name Korean barberry "Rubin"
Form shrub
Habit clumping
Origin Asia
Light sun to part
Moisture mesic 
Edible fruit


Berberis koreana is native to Korea and Eastern Asia and has been recently used as an ornamental tree in the United States. The Berberis genus however, ranges widely in Temperate zones of North America and Eurasia.

Fruit are raw or cooked.  The fruits are about 5mm long. Young leaves can also be cooked.  Berberis berries are edible but sour and are used in jams and jellies.  However eating high quantities of B. koreana berries can result in adverse side effects.

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. 

A yellow dye is obtained from the root.

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Berberis koreana

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