Genus i. 



BARBERRY FAMILY. 



127 



2. B. canadensis. 



Pericarp early bursting, leaving two large naked stalked seeds, resembling berries. 



3. Canlophylhim. 

 Fruit baccate ; stamens 6. 4- Difhytlcia. 



Fruit capsular, half circumscissile. 5. Jcffcisonia. 



Anthers longitudinally dehiscent; fruit baccate; stamens 6-18. 6. Podophyllum. 



I, BERBERIS [Tourn.] L. Sp. PL 330. 1753. 



Shrubs with yellow wood, often uiiifoliolate leaves, those of the primary shoots reduced 

 to spines, and yellow racemose flowers. Sepals 6-g, petaloid, bracted. Petals 6, imbricated 

 in 2 series, each with 2 basal glands. Stamens 6, irritable, closing around the stigma when 

 shocked ; anthers dehiscent by valves opening from the apex. Pistil i ; stigma peltate. Berry 

 l-few-seeded, mostly red. [Said to be from the Arabic name of the fruit.] 



A genus of about So species, natives of North America, Europe, northern Asia and South Amer- 

 ica. Besides the following, another is found in western North America. Type species : Berbcris 

 vulgaris L. 



Twigs ash-colored ; racemes many-flowered ; petals entire. I. B. vulgaris. 



Twigs dark brown ; racemes few-flowered ; petals notched. 



I. Berberis vulgaris L. European 

 Barberry. Fig. 1955. 



Berberis vulgaris L. Sp. PI. 330. 1753. 



A glabrous shrub, 6-8 high, the 

 branches arched and drooping at the ends, 

 the twigs gray. Leaves alternate or fas- 

 cicled, obovate or spatulate, unifoliolate, 

 obtuse, thick, 1-2' long, bristly serrate, 

 many of those on the young shoots re- 

 duced to 3-pronged spines, the fascicles 

 of the succeeding year appearing in their 

 axils; racemes terminating lateral branches, 

 many-flowered, l'-2' long (3'-4' in fruit) ; 

 flowers yellow, 3"-4" broad with a disa- 

 greeable smell; petals entire; berries ob- 

 long or ellipsoid, scarlet when ripe, acid. 



In thickets, naturalized from Europe in the 

 Eastern and Middle States, adventive in 

 Canada and the West. Native of Europe and 

 Asia. Consists of numerous races. Pep- 



peridge-bush. Jaundice-tree or -berry. 

 May-June. 



Wood-sour 



2. Berberis canadensis ^Mill. American 

 Barberry. Fig. 1956. 



B. canadensis Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 2. 1768. 

 Berberis vulgaris var. canadensis Ait. Hort. Kew. i : 

 479. 1789. 



A shrtib, l-6 high, with slender, reddish- 

 brown branchlets. Leaves similar to those of 

 B. vulgaris, but with more divergent and dis- 

 tant teeth, or sometimes nearly entire ; axil- 

 lary spines 3-pronged ; racemes few-flowered ; 

 petals conspicuously notched or emarginate at 

 the apex ; flowers about 3" broad, berries scar- 

 let, oval or subglobose. 



In woods, mountains of Virginia to Georgia 

 along the Alleghanies. and in Missouri. June. 

 Referred by Kegel to B. sinensis Desf., as a variety. 

 Readily distinguished from all races of B, vulgaris 

 by its dark-colored twigs. 



2. ODOSTEMON Raf. Am. Month. Mag. 2: 265. Feb. 1818. 



[Mahonia Nutt. Gen. i: 211. 1818.] 



Shrubs, with pinnate leaves of several or many coriaceous leaflets, and yellow racemose 



flowers, the branches not spiny, but the leaflets often with bristle-tipped teeth. Sepals mostly 



6. Petals and stamens of the same number as the sepals. Filaments often dilated; anthers 



dehiscent by valves. Berries mostly blue or white. [Greek, swollen stamen.] 



About 20 species, natives of North America and Asia. Type species : Berberis Aquifolium 

 Pursh. 



