Abstract

Berberis darwinii Hook. is a species that inhabits both slopes of the Andes Mountains in southern Chile and Argentina, used by the Mapuche ethnic group for the treatment of inflammatory processes, feverish states and stomach pain. The products present in B. darwinii provide a great diversity of phytochemicals, standing out the alkaloids and polyphenols as part of the most diverse groups of secondary metabolites present in the plant. There are several scientific reports and ethnographic antecedents of the traditional use, from a medicinal point of view of this interesting plant species, which has its natural origin in the south of Chile and Argentina, but has been naturalized in other continents.