128 Class VI. Order I. 



Syn. CAULOPHTLLVM TIIALICTROIDES. MX. 



A smooth plant with leaves resembling a Thalictrum, but 

 many times larger. Flowers in a small racemose panicle at the 

 division of the leaf stalks. Fruit stipitate, dark blue. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Nuttall the germ is two seeded, and the fruit becomes 

 one seeded by abortion ; so that it appears hardly necessary to 

 separate Caulophyllum from Leontice.* Woods, Deerfield ; 

 Woodstock, Vermont. May, Perennial. 



157. BERBERIS. 



BERBERIS VULGARIS. L. Barberry bush. 



Flowers in racemes ; spines three forked ; serra- 

 tures of leaves terminated by soft bristles. Sm. 



Few shrubs are better known or more common by road sides 

 and fences, in gravelly soils. Branches dotted and armed with 

 triple thorns. Leaves inversely ovate, serrate, the teeth and 

 point ending in short bristles. The yellow flowers appear in 

 June in hanging clusters; succeeded by oblong, acid berries of a 

 deep red colour. This plant agrees almost precisely with the 

 European. 



A very remarkable degree of irritability, not exceeded by the 

 sensitive plant, exists in the flowers of the Barberry. When 

 these are fully expanded, the stamens are found spread out on 

 the inner side of the corolla. In this situation, if the inside of 

 the filament be touched with a pin or straw, it instantly contracts 

 and throws the anther violently against the stigma. This fact, 

 which has been particularly described by Dr. Smith in the Eng- 

 lish Barberry, is not less remarkable and distinct in the Ameri- 

 can variety of the shrub. 



It is a commonly received opinion, both here and in Europe, 

 that the barberry is injurious to cultivated grain. Wheat, rye, 

 &c. growing in its neighbourhood, are said to be blighted. But 

 some distinguished philosophic agriculturalists, among whom 

 are Duhamel and Broussonet, have assured us that the opinion 

 is without foundation. May not the supposed fault belong to the 

 peculiar soil and situation which the barberry frequents ? 



* See also Decandolk Reg. veg. ii. 24. 



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