92 FLORA HOMCOPATHICA. — 
from the nose and gums, and turgescence of the hemorrhoidal 
vessels. i 
Descrretioy.—A bushy shrub, from three to six feet high; in 
a cultivated state, often much higher; flowers May and June. 
Branches alternate, flexible, angular, with a yellowish-brown 
bark. Leaves in tufts, from lateral buds, deciduous, stalked, 
somewhat inversely egg-shaped, more or less pointed, between 
serrated and fringed. Thorns at the base of each leaf-bud, three- 
cleft, spreading, sharp, channelled underneath. C/usters solitary, 
from the centre of each bud, stalked, simple, many-flowered, 
drooping longer than the leaves. Flowers of a bright yellow 
colour, with red glands. Berries red, oblong, a little curved, 
very acid. ‘The irritability of the stamens of this plant is very 
remarkable ; if the inside of the filaments be touched near the 
base by any extraneous body, they immediately spring up and 
strike the anthers against the stigma. This may be repeated 
several times, as after each irritation the stamens return to their 
original position. Dr. Smith observes, that the spring of the 
stamens is owing to a high degree of irritability in the side of 
the filament next the germ (the outside of the filament and the 
anther having none), by which, when touched, it contracts, that 
side becoming shorter than the other, and consequently, the 
filament being bent towards the germ. The purpose which this 
curious contrivance in nature is designed to answer is evident ; 
when the stamina stand in their original position, their anthers 
are effectually sheltered from rain by the concavity of the petals, 
thus they probably remain till some insect, in order to abstract 
honey from the base of the flower, thrusts itself between the 
filaments, and almost unavoidably touches them in their most irri- 
table parts, and in this way the impregnation of the germens is 
performed ; and as it is chiefly in sunny weather that insects are 
on the wing, so it is only in fine weather that the pollen is fit 
for the purpose of germination. 
Gzocraruicat Disrrisurion.— The Berberis vulgaris is 
indigenous in Great Britain and other parts of Europe. The 
