Genus BP:RBERIS, Linn. 



Berberacese. Hexandria Rlonogynia. 



Hi/St. Nat. ^!/sl. Lin. 



SynovyniiS. 

 Berbens, Oi Authors. 



Epine vinette, France. 



Berberitzbeerenstrauch, Sauerdorn, Germany. 



Berberis, Portugal. 



Berbero, Crespinc, Italy. 



Espina de majuelas, Spain. 



Berberry, Pipperidge Bush, Britain and Anglo-America. 



Derivations. The word Berberis is of very doublfiil origin. Some derive it from the Arabic herbertjs. a word used fir tliia 

 plant by Averrlioes and other writers on medicine ; uUiers from the Greelc word, h'-rl)eri, signifying a sliull, from the leaves of 

 the common kind having a hollow surface. Bocharl derives it from the Plioenician word, Imrar, which signifies shiny like a 

 shell. Gerard says, that it is corrupted from Ilie word antyrbcris, the name given to this plant by Avicenna. I)u Hamel derived- 

 it from an Indian word sisnifying Mother of pearl. The French nnme. Ej)i tie rrnc^/e, signifies Acid or Sorrel Thorn, from 

 the taste of the fruit and leaves. The Spanish name signifies Prickly-hawthorn Berberry ; and the German and Italian nanits 

 are derived from the botanic one. 



Generic Characters. Sepals fi, guarded on the outside by 3 scales. Petals 6, with 2 glands on the inside 

 of each. Stamens toothless. Berries 2 3-seeded. Seeds 2, rarely 3, laterally inserted at the base ot 

 the berries, erect, oblong, with a crustaceous coat and fleshy albumen. Cotyledons leafy, elliptical. 

 Radicle long, capitellate at the tip. Don, Milhrs Diet. 



^ LL the species of Berberis are shrubs from two to twenty feet in height, 

 in a wild state, and sometimes attain an elevation of thirty feet, 

 when cultivated. They all throw up numerous side-suckers, and 

 the stronger-growing species, if these were carefully removed, might be 

 formed into very handsome small trees. In all the species, the flowers are yel- 

 low. The fruit is generally red, always acid, and more or less astringent. The 

 irritability of the stamens, more particularly those of the Berberis vulgaris, 

 canadensis, and sinensis, the flowers of which expand, is a very remarkable prop- 

 erty in vegetable economy. When the filament is touched on the inside with 

 the point of a pin, or any other hard instrument, the stamens bend forward 

 towards the pistil, touch the stigma with the anther, remain curved for a short 

 time, and then partially recover their erect position. This is best seen in warm, 

 dry weather. The cause of this curious action, like that of all other vital phe- 

 nomena, is unknown. All that has been ascertained concerning it is, that the 

 irritability of the filament is aftected diflerently by different noxious substances. 

 It has been found by Messrs. Macaire and Marcett, that, if a berberry is poisoned 

 with any corrosive agent, such as arsenic, or bicloride of mercury, the filaments 

 become rigid and brittle, and lose their irritability ; while, on the other hand, if 

 the poisoning be cfl'ectcd by any narcotic, such as prussic acid, opium, or bella- 

 donna, the uritability is destroyed by the filaments becoming so relaxed and 

 flaccid, that they can be easily bent in any direction. In the original position 

 of the stamens, the anthers are sheltered from rain by the concavity of the petals. 

 Thus, probably, they remain till some insect comes to extract honey from the 

 base of the flowers, and, thrusting itself between the filaments, unavoidably 

 touches them in the most irritable part, and in this manner, the impregnation of 

 the germs takes place.* 



Geographical Distribution. Few genera of plants are more generally dissemi- 

 nated over the globe than the berberis. At least twenty species have been dis- 

 covered, either in Europe, northern and central Asia, or in North and ^outh 

 America, most of which have been introduced into Britain, and treated as shrubs 

 or small ornamental trees. 



See Penny Cyclopaedia i\., p. 260. 



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