10 
BERBERIS trifoliata. 
Three-leaved Berberry. 
HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. BERBERACEE. 
BERBERIS. Botanical Register, vol. 6. fol. 487. 
B. trifoliata ; sempervirens, glauca, erecta, fruticosa ; foliis trifoliolatis, foliolis 
ovatis sessilibus sinuato-spinosis acuminatis: venis lacteis, racemis 
paucifloris erectis petiolis brevioribus, baccis sphæricis. 
B. trifoliata, Hartweg in Bot. Reg. 1841. misc. 149. 
This very rare and beautiful species was found in Mexico 
by Mr. Hartweg, near the Hacienda del Espiritu Santo, on 
the road from Zacatecas to San Luis de Potosi, an immense 
plain occupied chiefly by Opuntias, stunted plants of Prosopis 
dulcis, and Yuccas. It covered large tracts of country ; the 
people called it Acrito, and the fruit was much eaten by 
children. Mr. Hartweg did not see it in flower. 
Its sessile ternate holly-like leaflets, beautifully marbled 
with pale blue and dull green, are entirely different from any 
thing among the pinnated Berberries hitherto discovered, 
and it may be added, are very much more handsome. 
In the garden of the Horticultural Society, where the 
annexed figure was made, it forms a dwarf spreading ever- 
green shrub, growing freely i in a rich sandy loam and rather 
dry situation. It has stood two winters planted against a 
south wall, and seems to be about as hardy as Berberis fasci- 
cularis. 
It may be increased in various ways: by layering, by 
cuttings, or by seeds, but when the kind is rare, like the 
present, grafting is the most certain and safest way ; the 
grafting may be performed in the ordinary way in March or 
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