BARBERRY FAMILY. 45 



4. CAULOPHYLLUM. Stamens 6. Petals 6 broad and thickish bodies much 



shorter than the sepals. Ovary bursting or disappearing early, leaving the 

 two ovules to develop into naked berry-like, or rather drupe-like, spherical 

 seeds on thick stalks. 

 *- ■*- With simply 2 - ^-parted leavts, and solitary white flowers : sepals falling when 

 the blossom opens. Seeds numerous, parietal. Pistils rarely more than one ! 



5. JEFFERSONIA. Flower on a scape, rather preceding the 2-parted root-leaves. 



Petals (oblong) and stamens mostly 8. Fruit an ovate pod, opening by a 

 cross-line halt-way round, the top forming a conical lid. Seeds with an 

 aril on one side. 



6. PODOPHYLLUM. Flower in the fork between the two peltate 5 - 9-parted 



leaves : root-leaf single and peltate in the middle, umbrella-like. Petals 

 6-9, large and broad. Stamens usually 12-18. Fruit an oval, large and 

 sweet, eatable berry ; the seeds imbedded iu the pulp of the large parietal 

 placenta. 



1. BERBEE.IS, BAEBERRY. (Old Arabic name.) The two sorts or 

 sections have sometimes been regarded as distinct genera. 



§ 1. True Barberry; with simple leaves, clustered in the axil of compound spines. 



B. vulg^is, Common B. of Eu. Planted, and run wild in thickets and 

 by roadsides ; has drooping many-flowered racemes, and oblong red and sour 

 berries ; leaves obovate-oblong, fringed with closely-set bristly teeth, with a joint 

 in the very short petiole (like that in an orange-leaf), clustered in the axils of 

 triple or multiple spines, which answer to leaves of the shoot of the previous 

 season (see Lessons, p. 51, fig. 78). 



B. Canadensis, Wild B. In the Alleghanies from Virginia S., and rarely 

 cult., a low bush, with few-flowered racemes, oval red berries, and less bristly 

 or toothed leaves. 



§ 2. Mahonia ; with pinnate and evergreen leaves, spiny-toothed leaflets, and 

 clustered racemes of early spring flowers : berries blue or black with a 

 bloom. Planted for ornament. 



B. Aquifblium, Holly B. or Mahonia, from Oregon, &c., rises to 

 3° - 4° high ; leaflets 5-9, shining, finelj' reticulated. 



B. ripens, Creeping or Low M., from Rocky Mountains, is more hardy, 

 rises only 1° or less, and has rounder, usually fewer, pale or glaucous leaflets. 



B. nerv6sa, also called glumXcea, from the husk-like long and pointed 

 bud-scales at the end of the stems, which rise only a few inches above the ground ; 

 leaflets 11-21, along the strongly -jointed stalk, lance-ovate, several-ribbed from 

 the base. Also from Oregon. 



B. Japoniea, Japan M., tall, rising fully 6° high, the rigid leaflets with 

 only 3 or 4 strong spiny teej;h on each side, is coming into ornamental grounds. 



2. NANDINA. (The native Japanese name.) A single species, viz. 



N. domestica. Cult, in cool greenhouse, &c., from Japan : very com- 

 pound large leaves : the berries more ornamental than the blossoms. 



3. EPIMEDIUM, BARREN- WORT. (Old Greek name, of uncertain 

 meaning.) Low herbs, with neat foliage : cult, for ornament. 



E. Alplnum, of European Alps, has a panicle of odd-looking small flowers ; 

 theyellow petals not larger than the reddish sepals. 



E. macranthum, Large-flowered E. of Japan, with similar foliage, 

 has large white flowers with very long-spurred petals. 



4. CAULOPHYLLUM, COHOSH. The only species of the genus is 



C. thalictroides. Blue Cohosh. Wild in woods, with usually only one 

 stem-leaf and that close to the top of the naked stem (whence the name of the 

 genus, meaning stem-leaf), and thrice ternate, but, having no common petiole, it 

 looks like three leaves ; and there is a larger and more compound radical leaf, 

 with a long petiole. The leaves are glaucous and resemble those of Thalirtrum 

 (as the specific name indicates), but the leaflets are larger. Seeds very hard, 

 with a thin blue pulp. 



