Appearance
Shrubby tree reaching up to 1.50 metres . Branches blackish red. provided with strong yellow spines, close to each other, often 3-parted. Leaves glabrous, sessile, 15–25 millimetres long over 5–7 millimetres wide, strongly innerved.Inflorescence in racemes smaller than leaves. Perianth made of 6 petal-like yellow sepals, 4–5 millimetres in diameter. Stamens ; anthers oval. Ovary topped by a thick sessile stigma. Fruit an ovate blackish berry.
Naming
The etymology of the generic name is not certain. ''Berberis libanotica'' is considered by C. Schneider and most botanists after him as specifically distinct from ''B. cretica L''. It is however very close to it and differs only by the absence of stomata on the upper side of the leaves. It is a medicinal plant well known to the Lebanese, who make use of the solution obtained by maceration of its roots in tepid water for treating certain liver and gall bladder diseases. The investigation of its active agents was the topic of a doctorate dissertation in pharmacy submitted by J. Ades in 1948 at the French Faculty of Medicine, Beirut.
Distribution
Middle mountain, eastern slope, Hermon, Antilebanon.References:
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