is the only Berberidacea found at the Avila of the Cordillera de la Costa in Venezuela; it is a shrub, 1-2m high, sometimes with 2 spines at the leaf base. The glabrous leaves have an ovate shape and their margins are devoid of teeth. The leaf tip is more or less apiculate. The flowers are fragrant, the fruits are edible. The species occurs in the subparamos at about 2200 m (STEYERMARK & HUBER 1978). The leaf is leathery and xeromorphic. The leaf anatomy has been described by ROT 1995, PP. 191-193 .. UPHOF (1968) mentions 1l species of Berberis which are useful. In several species, the roots, the bark or the wood are source of a yellow dye. The wood is used for mosaic-work, turnery and toothpicks. Fruits of several species are edible and made into preserves. Root and bark may have medicinal properties being used as a tonic, febrifuge, carminative, as a gentle aperient, as an alterative and against haemorrhoids (tannins.).

South American medicinal plants : botany, remedial properties, and general use / I. Roth, H. Lindorf. Berlin ; New York : Springer, c2002. -- p. 492.