32 THE NEPAL ASH-LEAVED BERBERRY. 
The plant is probably hardy ; at least it has sustained no injury during one winter in the open 
air, and a slight screen of glass without fire has saved it from the effects of the unprecedented cold 
of the present spring. But it is doubtful whether it will not be necessary to give it the protection 
of a glass roof, in order that its beautiful leaves may not be injured by winds. It is understood to 
prefer sheltered nooks in the Himalayas, and there only to display the beauty that belongs to it. 
It seems probable that Asia contains four Berberries nearly related to this, if not five, all of 
which would prove horticultural treasures. 
First, there is the present plant, which seems to be confined to the chain of the Himalayas and 
the adjoining districts. 
A second is the B. acanthifolia of Wallich, abundant in the Nilgherry range; when growing 
in favourable situations, as Dr. Wight informs us, it forms a small tree. It is known by its very 
numerous leaflets, as many as twenty-one in some specimens, and bluish-purple globose, not oblong, 
fruit. It appears to be the same as B. Leschenaultii of Wallich and Wight, which the latter finds 
in almost every clump of jungle about Ootacamund, the well-known sanitarium of the Madras 
presidency. 
A possible third is mentioned by Dr. Wight as having drooping racemes, and inhabiting Coorg. 
He supposes it to be identical with a plant seen by him on the Pulney Mountains, with * diffuse 
rambling branches." 
A fourth is the Berberis japonica, figured at No. 10 of the Gleanings in our first volume. 
A fifth is a most remarkable species, found by Mr. Fortune in his visit to the tea countries of 
China, and regarded by him as a possible form of B. nepalensis. Of this B. trifurca we shall 
speedily produce a figure. 
