1923J SCHNEIDER, NOTES ON HYBRID BERBERIS 205 



De Candolle says: "rami teretes, pallide grisei . . . racemi foliis paullo 

 longiores, 2-3-pollicares, patuli, sat racemis B. vulgaris similes." Judging 

 by this statement there can be no doubt as to the true B. aristata. Ker 

 (in Bot. Reg. ix. tab. 729 [1823]) printed De Candolle's diagnosis but the 

 plant figured is B. chitria Hamilton sensu Don (Prodr. Fl. Nep. 204 

 [1825]) which is an entirely different plant. Hooker f. et Thomson 

 (FL Ind. I. 222 [1855]), too, did not separate B. aristata and B. chitria, 

 and the last has been renamed B. gratissima by Klotzsch & Garcke 

 (Bot. Ergeb. Reise Waldemar 130, t. 37 [1862]). Lindley in 1835 well 

 distinguished the two species but he mistook B. chitria for B. aristata, 

 and used for the latter the name B. floribunda. 



According to Sweet (1826) and Don (1831) B. chitria was introduced 

 into cultivation in 1820, and probably Wallich or another collector of his 

 time introduced B. aristata at that time. Hamilton collected both species, 

 and distributed them under the name B. chitria. Both are met with in 

 European Gardens under such names as B. coriacea, floribunda, asiatica, 



ana and even B. aetnensis. Berberis aristata is a good 



Wallichiiy Wallichiana and even B. aetnensis. 

 garden plant, and the parent of quite a number of hybrids of which only 

 a few can be dealt with in my present note. Berberis coriaria Royle 

 (apud Lindley in Bot. Reg. xxvi. t. 46 [1841]) seems to be nothing but a 

 variety of B. aristata. This plant was raised in the gardens of the London 

 Horticultural Society from seeds sent by Royle in 1835, collected probably 

 somewhere on the northwestern Himalayas. Unfortunately I have not 

 found in any herbarium material from this region agreeing with Lindley's 

 description and picture. A Berberis coriaria is mentioned by Kanjilal 

 (For. Flor. 21 [1901]), by Collet, (Fl. Siml. 22 [1902]), and by Brandis 

 (Ind. Trees, 30 [1906]), but I am quite unable to say what form these 

 authors had in mind. 



X Berberis bella, hybr. nov. 



Frutex ut videtur vegetus, habitu B. nummular iae y ramis strictis elon- 

 gatis; ramuli annotini purpurascentes et violascentes (pruinosi), laeves, 

 leviter sulcato-angulati, biennes cinereo-fusci, subangulati, vetustiores 

 nigrescentes ; internodia 1.5-3 cm. longa; spinae infimae 3-partitae, ceterum 

 simplices, validae, patentes, brunnei vel flavo-brunnei, subtus haud vel 

 levissime sulcatae, applanatae, 1-4 cm. longae. Folia ad 8-faseiculata, 

 inaequalia, matura rigide papyracea, ramulorum fertilium obovato- vel 

 elliptico-oblonga, apice obtusa, rarius subacuta, minute mucronulata, basi 

 cuneata, satis subito vel sensim in petiolum ad 1 cm. longum attenuata, 

 integerrima vel saepe parce serrata, dentibus utrinque 1-6 distantibus 

 vix 0.5 mm. longis, superne glauco-viridia, subtus glaucescentia, paullo 

 discoloria, utraque pagina satis laxe reticulata (margines cellularum epider- 

 midis faciei superioris leviter undulatae, inferioris subrectae; stomata in 

 pagina superiori et papillae in pagina inferiori desunt), minimis exceptis 

 2 : 0.8 ad 4 : 2 cm. magna; folia ramulos novellos fulcientia surculorum- 



