1923] SCHNEIDER, NOTES ON HYBRID BERBERIS 223 



only of three or four flowers. They are larger than those of B. Thunbergii 9 

 bright yellow (those of B. Thunbergii are much paler), with rounded sepals 

 and petals, and the red-marked filaments of the Japanese plant. They 

 open a week or ten days later than those of B. vulgaris, and possess a trace 

 merely of the delightful fragrance of those of this species. The fruit 

 resembles very closely that of B. Thunbergii, and hangs, as it is the case 

 with that plant, bright and fresh upon the branches throughout the 

 winter and early spring. Several years ago, Max Leichtlin sent to the 

 Arboretum seeds of 'two red-fruited' Barberries, without any indication 

 of their origin. A large proportion of the seedlings raised from this seed 

 proved to be B. Thunbergii, but among them were several individuals of 

 this peculiar plant, which suggests in its umbellate inflorescence some of 

 the forms of the sub-evergreen of B. aristata of the Himalayas. But 

 whether, as I suspect, it is a hybrid, or some species unknown here, it is 

 an exceedingly ornamental and valuable garden plant; one of the neatest 

 of the whole genus in its habit of growth, perfectly hardy, and very 

 beautiful when its graceful branches are covered with its nodding umbels 

 of large, bright-colored flowers." This is an excellent description of our 

 hybrid. I have seen several specimens in the Arnold Arboretum under 

 no. 671 and 671-2. There are apparently at least two or three distinct 

 forms of this hybrid. One has the leaves partly tinged with purple accord- 

 ing to the fact already mentioned that f . atropurpurea of vulgaris was one 

 of the parents. Whether var. pluriflora of B. Thunbergii has to be re- 

 garded as a form of the hybrid, too, or a mere variety of Thunbergii remains 

 to be seen. There are certainly forms which very closely approach either 



the one or the other of the parent very closely. 



I will add an enumeration and description of Berberis vulgaris and its 



forms. 



Berberis vulgaris Linnaeus, Spec. i. 330 (1753). — J. S. Kerner, Be- 

 schreib. Abb. Baume Straucher, 84, t. 32 (1787).— Reitter et Abel, Abb. 

 Deutsch. Holzart. 20, t. 49 (1790).— Sowerby, Engl. Bot. 1. 1. 49 (1790). 

 Schkuhr, Bot. Handb. I. 306, t. 99 (1791).— Vahl, Fl. Dan. vi. 3, t. 904 

 (1792).— Palmstruch et Venus, Svensk Bot. I. t. 24 (1802).— Hayne, 

 Darst. Arzenei^ew. I. 41, t. 41 (1805). — Schrank, Fl. Monac. I. t. 78 

 (1811).— Bigelow. Fl. Boston, 78 (1914).— Nees v. Esenbeck, PI. Med. 

 ii. t. 368 (1828).— Poiteau & Turpin in Duhamel Traite Arb. Fruit., 

 n. ed. in. 51 t. 51 (1835).— Baxter, British Phaen. Bot. n. t. 115 (1835).— 

 D. Dietrich, Forstfl. ed. 2, 81, t. c. (1838).— Reichenbach, Ic. Fl. Germ. 

 Helv. in. 3, t. 18, fig. 4486 (1838).— Audubon, Birds Am. in. 87, t. 166 

 (1841).— A. Dietrich, Fl. Reg. Boruss, x. t. 685 (1842).— Seringe, FL 

 Jard. in. 257, t. 4, figs. 1-13 (1849).— Sturm, Deutschl. Fl. Abt. I. Bd. xx. 

 t. 9312 (1849).— Bock, Naturg. Abb. Deutschl. wilde Holzart. 46, t. 60 

 (1859).— Sowerby, Engl. Bot. ed. 3, l. 71, t. 51 (1863).— Baillon, Hist. 

 PI. in. 50, figs. 49-55 (1872).— Hallier, Deutschl. Fl. ed. 9, 104, t. 25 



