78 Class VI. Order L 



HEXANDRIA. 



MONOGYNU. 



96. BERBERIS. 

 BERBERIS VULGARIS. L. Barberry bush, 



Flowers in racemes ; spines three forked ; ser- 

 ratures ofleaves 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 ber- 

 ries of a deep red colour. 



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 con- 

 tracts and throws the anther violently against Uie stigma. 

 This fact which has been particularly described by Dr. Smith 

 in the English Barberry, is not less remarkable and distinct in 

 the American variety of the shrub. 



It is a commonly received opinion, both here and in Eu- 

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

 rye, Sec. 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 be- 

 long to the peculiar soil and situation which the barberry ire* 

 Guents ? 



