BARBERRY FAMILY 217 



many as the petals and opposite them ; anthers extrorse, opening by 2 uplifting 

 valves. Pistil of a single carpel ; style short or none ; ovary 1-celled ; ovules two to 

 many, anatropous. Fruit a berry or capsule; endosperm present. 



About 11 genera and 140 species, north temperate zone, extending to the Andes and the temperate zone of 

 South America. 



Shrubs with pinnate spiny-toothed leaves. 1. Mahonia. 



Perennial herbs; leaves basal, mostly ternate. 



Leaves with 3 sessile leaflets; sepals and petals none. 2. Achlys. 



Leaves once or twice ternate; leaflets usually 3 to each division, petiolulate; sepals and petals present. 



3. Vancouveria. 



1. MAHONIA Nutt. Gen. PL 1:211. 1818. 



Shrubs with yellow wood, bitter inner bark, and spineless branches. Leaves persistent, 

 pinnately compound, the leaflets coriaceous and spinose-dentate. Flowers yellow, race« 

 mose, the sepals and petals usually 3 each. Filaments dilated, usually with 2 tooth-like 

 appendages at the apex, irritable, closing around the stigma when touched on the inner 

 surface near the base. Stigma peltate. Fruit a berry, usually with a bloom, blue-black, 

 varying to red or white. Seeds solitary or few. [Named in honor of Mr. Bernard 

 McMahon, American horticulturist.] 



About 35 species, natives of western North America and Asia. Type species, Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) 

 Nutt. Odostemon Raf. is an older name for this genus but Mahonia has been conserved by the International 

 Botanical Congress. 



Bud-scales glumaceous, persistent, 15-40 mm. long; filaments unappendaged. 1. M. nervosa. 



Bud-scales deciduous, 2-5 mm. long; filaments with a pair of recurved teeth near the apex. 



Racemes densely many-flowered; floral bracts triangular-ovate, obtuse or acute; berry oblong-ovoid, blue- 

 black, fleshy. 

 Epidermis of the lower surface of the leaflets not papillate; upper surface bright glossy green. 



Leaflets ovate, mostly obtuse, the lowest pair borne close to the base. 2. M. pinnata. 



Leaflets ovate-lanceolate, the lowest pair remote from the base. 3. M. aquifolium. 



Epidermal cells on the lower surface of the leaflets forming papilla-like protuberances. 

 Leaflets bright green and shining above. 



Teeth 7-11 on each margin of the leaflet, tipped with slender spines; lower surface of leaflets 

 gray-green. 4. M. Piperiana. 



Teeth 12-16 on each margin, merely bristle-tipped; lower surface not grayed. 



5. M. Sonnei. 

 Leaflets dull or gray-green above, grayish beneath. 



Teeth small and merely bristle-tipped, usually 12 or more on a side. 6. M. repens. 



Teeth large, tipped with stout spines, usually 5-9 on each margin. 



Plants low, 2-5 dm. high; teeth not as long as the body portion of the leaflets. 



7. M. pumila. 



Plants 1-2 m. high; leaves pale gray-green on both surfaces, strongly undulate and rigid, 



the teeth about as long as the body portion of the leaflet. 8. M. dictyota. 



Racemes loosely 5-7-flowered; floral bracts lanceolate-acuminate; leaves glaucescent on both surfaces; 

 berries globose. 



Leaflets with 2-3 prominent spiny teeth on each margin, deeply sinuate; berries inflated and dry. 



9. M. Fremontu. 



Leaflets narrow, long-acuminate, with 6 or more bristle-like teeth on each margin, only slightly or not 

 at all sinuate; berries not inflated, bright red and juicy. 10. M. Nevtnn. 



1. Mahonia nervosa (Pursh) Nutt. Oregon Grape. Fig. 1867. 



Berberis nervosa Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 219. pi. 5. 1814. 



Mahonia nervosa Nutt. Gen. 1: 212. 1818. 



Mahonia giumosa DC. Syst. 2: 21. 1821. 



Odostemon nervosus Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 33: 141. 1906. 



Stems simple, 2-6 dm. high, bearing the leaves in a terminal tuft, the scales of the terminal 

 bud glumaceous, persistent, 1.5-4 cm. long. Leaves 25-40 cm. long; leaflets 7-21, ovate to ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, 3-5 cm. long, spinulose-serrate, glossy green, somewhat palmately nerved; 

 racemes 7-20 cm. long, erect; pedicels 5-8 mm. long; berries glaucous, blue, 8-10 mm. in 

 diameter. 



Coniferous forests, Humid Transition Zone; Vancouver Island and British Columbia to Monterey, California. 

 Type locality : the Cascades of the Columbia River. March-May. 



2. Mahonia pinnata (Lag.) Fedde. California Mahonia. Fig. 1868. 



Berberis pinnata Lag. Elench. Hort. Madr. 6. 1803 (nomen nudum); op. cit. 14. 1816. 



Mahonia fascicularis DC. Syst. 2: 19. 1821. 



Mahonia pinnata Fedde, Bot. Jahrb. 31: 86. 1901. 



Odostemon fascicularis Abrams, Bull. N.Y. Bot. Gard. 6: 360. 1910. 



Stems erect, branching, 3-15 dm. high. Leaflets 5-17, commonly 7-9, crowded on the rachis, 

 the lowest pair near the base, glossy green above, scarcely paler beneath, rather thin, spinulose- 

 dentate, the teeth usually 12 or more on each margin ; racemes dense, fascicled, 3-5 cm. long. 



Wooded slopes or thickets, mainly Upper Sonoran Zone; California Coast Ranges from Humboldt County 

 to Los Angeles County. Type locality: Monterey, California. March-May. 



