BARBERRIES. 



597 



H Sa 



V 



Fig. 3. Berberis vulgaris. Vertical sec- 

 tion of flower : B, bract ; Sp, sepal ; 

 P, petal ; N, N, nectar glands ; F, fila- 

 ment ; A, anther ; V, valve ; So, stig- 

 ma; H, zone of hairs; 0, ovule. 



enough have been given to show that, at least in the history of 

 those forms cognate with our own barberry, there are presented 

 not a few curious and perhaps significant analogies with the evo- 

 lution of a group of organic spe- 

 cies subjected to the diverse influ- 

 ences of changing environment. 



Leaving now the matter of 

 names, let us proceed to consider 

 the plant itself, and, so far as may 

 be, something of its history. 



The barberry's place in Nature 

 is expressed botanically by saying 

 that it belongs to the principal 

 genus of the family Berberidacece, 

 and is thus near of kin to our 

 native "twinleaf" {Jeffersonia), 

 " cohosh " (Caulophyllum) , and 

 "May apple" {Podophyllum). As 

 will be seen by referring to Fig. 3, the floral structure is, like 

 theirs, notably simple and regular, and the parts are all distinct, 

 thus recalling the general features to be found in the buttercup 

 family {Ranunculacem) and the moonseed family {Menisperma- 

 cece). It evidently is of the same ancestral stock as these, since 

 they all agree so closely in fundamental plan, despite innumer- 

 able differences in matters of comparatively small detail. More- 

 over, the intense yellow color so generally characteristic of the 

 tissues of Berberidacece, depending, as is well known, upon the 

 presence of the bitter alkaloid berberine (CaoHj^NOJ, occurs also 

 to some extent in the families mentioned. Hence the structural 

 evidences of consanguinity gain something of confirmation in 

 the fact that we find the same substance which renders various 

 species of Berberis useful for medicinal and tinctorial purposes 

 imparting its tonic properties and intense yellow to the "gold- 

 thread " ( Coptis) and " yellowroot " {Xanthorrhiza) among Ra- 

 nuncidacecB, and the " calumba root " (Jateorrhiza) of Menisper- 

 macece,. 



In the old days of belief in " signatures," this yellowness of 

 the barberry's tissues was taken as a sure indication that here 

 must be a sovereign remedy for jaundice, and accordingly a de- 

 coction of the bark was in high repute as a specific for that dis- 

 ease. While this notion has, of course, long been banished to the 

 limbo of imaginary medicine, yet, in the modern practice, decoc- 

 tions, infusions, and the fluid extract of barberry bark, as well as 

 the isolated alkaloid berberine, have a recognized tonic value. It 

 is an aqueous extract prepared in India from the sliced roots and 

 branches of the so-called "ophthalmic barberry" {Berberis ly- 



