15!^ Yl BERBERIDACEiE, lEPfiEKSom^ 



Order VI. BERBERII>ACE^.— Berberids. 



Herbs or ahnibs, with alternate, usually exstipulate, simple or compound leaves. 



F/s. solitar/, racemose or panicled, psrlect 



Gai —Sepals 3—4—6, imbricate in 2 rows, often remforced by petalowl scales. 



Got. hypogynous. Ps.t. 1—3 timas as many as the sepals and opposite to them. 



Sta. as many or twice as many as the petals, and opposite to them. 



.ilM^/z. generally opening by recurved valves, extrorse. , , , w 



Ova. l-celled, solitary, simple. Sty. often lateral. Sti^. often lateral or peltate. 



'S'r. berried or capsular. „ , , , i i . 



Sds. one or few, attached to the bottom of the cell, or many, attached to lateral placenta;. 



Genera 12, species lOO, inhabiting the temperate zones. Some genera, as the Podophyllurn and Jeff it* 



Eonia, possess catbartic properties. Others, as the Berberis, contain in their fruits malic and oxalic aciC. 



Conspectus of the Genera. 



4 Petals 8, flowers on a scape Jeffersonia. 3 



< Leaves not peltate, e Petals 6, with a scale at base. . . - Lcontici:. «^ 



ITerbs perennial. I Leaves peltate ; stamens 00 PodophijUum. 2 



Shrubs.with yellow flowers and irritable filaments Bsrberia. 1 



1. BERBERIS. 

 Calyx of 6, obovate, spreading, colored sepals, with the three outeir 

 ones smaller ; corolla of G suborbicular petals, with 2 glands at the- 

 base of each ; filaments 6, flattened ; anthers 2 separate lobes on 

 opposite edges of the eonnectile ; style ; berry oblong, l-celled ; 

 seeds 2 or 3. — Fine hardy shrubs. 

 B. VULGARIS. Berberry Bush. 



Spines 3-forked ; lis. simple, serratures terminated by soft bri.stles; rac^ 

 pendulous, many-flowered ; pet. entire. — A Avell known bu.shy, ornamental .shrub, 

 in hard, gravelly soils, Northern States. Grows 3— 'Sf high. Leaves Ih — 2*" 

 long, i as wide, round-obtu.se at apex, tapering at base into the petiole, and- 

 remarkably distinguished by their bristly serratures. Flov/ers yellow, a dozen 

 or more in each hanging cluster. Stamens irritable, springing violently 

 against the stigma when touched. Berries scarlet, very acid, forming ab 

 agreeable jelly when boiled with sugar. The bark of the root dyes yellow. 



2. PODOPHYLLUM. 



Gr. xovs, ToSoi, a foot ; (pvWov, a leaf; alluding to the long, firm petiolesi 



Sepals 3, oval, obtuse, concave, caducous ; petals 6 — 9, obovatej, 

 concave; stamens 9 — 18, with linear anthers; berry large, ovoid,, 

 l-celled, crowned with the solitary stigma. — % Ziow, rather poiso?wuff 

 kerbs. Lvs. 2. Fl. solitary. 



■ ., P. PELTATUM. BTay Apple. Wild Mandrake. 



lii woods and iields, common in Middle and "W e.stern States, rare in N. 

 Eng. Height about If. It is among our more curious and interesting plants. 

 Stem round, sheathed at base, dividing into 2 round petioles, between which is the" 

 flower. Leaves oftener cordate than peltate, in 5 — 7 lobes, each lobe 6' long 

 from the insertion of the petiole, 2-lcbed and dentate at apex. Flowers pedun- 

 culate, drooping, white, about 2' diam. Petals curiously netted with veins.. 

 Fruit ovoid-oblong, large, yellowish, with the flavor of the strawberry. The- 

 root is cathartic. May. 



3. JEFFERSONIA. Bart. 



In honor ol' President Jeflerson, a patron :,•; science. 



Sepals 4, colored, deciduous ; petalii 8, spreading, incurved ; sta- 

 mens 8. Tritii linear anthers ; stigma peltate ; capsule obovate, stipi- 

 tate, opening by a circumscissile dehiscence. — Scape simple^ \-Jlcvjered. 

 Lvs. 2-parted or binate. 



J^ r^iPHYLLA. Barton. 



A sip-g-ular plant, 8 — 14' high. Middle and Western State.^s. Rhizoma 

 horizontal. Each petiole bears at the top a pair of binate leaves, v/hich ar& 

 placed base to base, and broader than long, ending in aa obtu.se point, glaucous- 



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