IRISH GARDENING 



II 



New Barberries, 



Our gardens have lieeu greatly enriched by Mr. 

 E. H. Wilson's travels in China, and to the Bar- 

 berry family numerous additions have been made, 

 several of " which are likely to become great 

 favourites. 



These notes are made from i>lants at Cllasneyin, 

 and on some species they are necessarily limited 

 and inromplete, because the plants have only been 

 in cultivation for a short time. 



For garden ])uri)oses we can roughly divide 

 them into two groups — 



(1) those valuable on 

 account of their fruit ; 



(2) those valuable for 

 their evergreen foliage 

 and flowers. 



In the first section 

 come the Polyantha? 

 group with deciduous 

 foliage. 



Berberis Prattii, if it 

 will always fruit like it 

 has done this autumn, 

 is far away the finest of 

 the Polyantha set, and 

 in fact one of the best of 

 all fruiting Barberries. 

 A bush 3^ feet high, 

 about 4 years old, has 

 been a beautiful sight 

 from October to Decern 

 her covered with sal- 

 mon-red or cerise fruit 

 with a plum-like bloom. 

 The bush is a pyramid 

 s h a ]) e, sending up 

 strong erect shoots 

 from the base, bearing 

 the following season 

 large clusters of fruits, 

 lyateral branches when 

 fruiting often have the 

 clusters closely to- 

 gether so as to resemble 

 large drooping panicles 

 6 or 8 inches in length ; 

 the ]ihoto illustrates 

 some of the side shoots. 

 The leaves, before fall- 

 ing about the beginning 

 of December, turn a 

 beautiful red. 



Berberis Prattii is 

 found at an altitude of about 8,000 to 9.000 ft. in 

 \V. Szechuan, and there grows to a height of 

 fi'ot or more. 



The young shoots are light brown, usually 

 bearing slender trifid spines nearly an inch long, 

 the leaves varying in size and shape, fioni l to 1 

 inch long, and from oblong to obovate. iiuicronate 

 with margins entire or spiny. The flowers are 

 sDiall anrl yellow borne in long panicles. The 

 fruits are oval, nearly a quarter of an inch in 

 length with i)ersistent style, and contain two 

 seeds. 



Berberis Prattii var. recurvata is said to differ 

 botanically from the type by its narrow in- 

 tlorescence and ciirved pedicels. When growing 

 it ap]>ears less vigorous and has smaller leaves, 

 hut is a very pretty shrub. 



Berberis 



\ new Chinese Barberr 



coloured 



Berberis polyantha is making a strong growing 

 erect bush, and bears numerous deep yellow flowers, 

 but is very shy here in producing its red fruits. 

 Berberis brevipaniculata for garden purposes 

 may be termed an inferior B. Prattii, with much- 

 smaller clusters of fruit. " Botanically it differs 

 from Prattii in the glabrous branches and in- 

 florescences, and smaller leaves which are dis- 

 tinctly glaucous underneath and shorter ])anicles 

 and bracts " from Planta? Wilsoniana'. This 

 species and B. polyantha were sent out by Witch 

 a few years ago. 



Berberis aggregata is allied to the former ones : 

 it is said to gi'ow live 

 feet or naore high, and 

 was shown by Hon. 

 Vicary Gibbs at tlie R, 

 H. S. on October 7th 

 last. The berries are 

 densely clustered on 

 the branches, and there 

 is something very at- 

 tractive about t h e 

 bright red fruits. Up to 

 the present it has not 

 fruited very freely at 

 niasnevin, but the 

 bushes are still very 

 young. Two delightful 

 fruiting Barberries, 

 which are closely allied, 

 are B. Wilsonse and B. 

 Stap liana, both are ex- 

 ceedingly spiny and 

 bear coral red fruit 

 sprays, which are most 

 useful for autumn de- 

 coration: it is difficult 

 to know at which stage 

 they are most beautiful . 

 when ripening they ai'c 

 yellowish white flusherl 

 vvdth rose and gradually 

 assume the warm coral 

 coloiu' towards Novem- 

 ber. Berberis Wilsona? 

 we cannot praise too 

 highly, for whoever 

 grows it at all well soon 

 gets to love it. [It forms 

 a sin-eading (^lose-grow- 

 i n g b \] s h , u s u a 1 1 y 

 broader than hii-h : at 

 Glasnevin it has not 

 reached 3 feet in height.. 

 B. Staiifiana does not 

 cover the uround so much, but is more erect and 

 loose in habit, and looks like growing nuu-h taller, 

 and carries the fiaiit where it will not be soiled by 

 winter rains. Cut si)ravs of these two species are 

 much alike, although the fruit of B. Wilsona^ 

 mav be slitrhtlv rounder: the • young shoots 

 of B. Wilsona-" are i)ubes(ent. while those 

 of B. Sta])fiana are glalnous. The foliage of both 

 species is very nuich alike, and variable m size 

 from i to 1 inch long, oblanceolate in shape with 

 a peciiliar grey green above and slightly glaucous 

 hereath. B. Stapflana was described by Dr. 

 C. Schneider lastveai, and was raised by Maurice 

 de Yihnorin. and also collected by Wilson in 

 China. Messrs. Veitch received an award of 

 merit for this species when they showed a 

 specimen 4 feet high in October, 1912. 



Prattii. 



y with beautiful cerise 

 berries. 



