26 



BERBERIS tenuifolia. 

 I'^hin Ash-leaved Berberry. 



HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 

 Nat. Ord. BERBERACEiE. 



BERBERIS. Supra, vol. 17. fol. 1425. 



B. tenuifolia ; foliis pinnatis ternatisque, foliolis distantibus lanceolatis 

 acutis tenuibus planis integerrimis racemis laxis cernuis multifloris bre- 

 vioribus. 



B. tenuifolia, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1838. misc. no. 121. 



B. fraxinifolia. Hook. ic. 4. 329. 330. 1841. 



This very rare plant was found by Mr. H art weg, on his 

 first arrival in Mexico, at a place called Zaquapam, at the foot 

 of Orizaba, and was raised among the first collections that he 

 sent to the Horticultural Society. Considering the warm 

 climate of which it is a native, it was expected to prove 

 tender, and the event has shewn it to be so ; for we have no 

 species yet in our gardens so impatient of cold. In fact, it 

 must be regarded strictly as a greenhouse plant, to which 

 any amount of frost would be fatal. 



It is a hard- wooded graceful plant, very apt to run up 

 with a single stem, without producing lateral buds, and when 

 that is allowed to happen, its beauty is much impaired. For 

 some time, indeed, it remained in that state in the large con- 

 servatory of the Horticultural Society. At last, by binding it 

 down, so as to check the rise of the sap, the lateral buds were 

 enabled to expand, and now the specimen is well furnished 

 with branches, and is above six feet high. 



Its flowers appear in the latter part of the year (October 

 to December), and are agreeably sweet-scented. 



So far as experience has gone, it appears to be the most 

 easily propagated by cuttings of the half ripe wood, or by 

 grafting on B. aquifolium. For soil it seems to like sandy 

 loam and peat. 



