26 BERBERIDE^ 



were to be found of purple, blue, and yellow tints. Our traveller scarcely 

 believed this, but a Chinese artist assured him that he had seen flowers of 

 these colours, and for a small sum made a drawing of them from memory. 



These drawings were taken to the owner of a flower-shop, who said that 

 he must send for them to a distance of a hundred miles, and must charge the 

 ])urchaser a high price. In due time the Peonies made their appearance ; and 

 though the blue was wanting, and the yellow flower had that tinge only in 

 the centre of its white petals, yet there were beautiful lilac and purple 

 blossoms. Mr. Fortune, however, had scarcely paid the high price when he 

 found that the Chinese flower-seller had actually procured them at about a 

 mile from the town. 



The Greek legends told that the physician Pieon cured Pluto of a wound 

 Avith the common Peony, and it is called after Piieon in almost every country 

 in Europe. Our old poets termed it the Piny or Piony. The ancient Greeks 

 seem to have held the plant in great repute : among other superstitious 

 notions, they believed it to be of divine origin, and an emanation from the 

 moon ; they added that it shone during night, but its splendour is not so 

 visible to modern eyes. No wonder that such a plant was reputed to drive 

 away evil spirits, to avert tempests, and by growing near houses to protect 

 them from all injury. Nor were all the absurd notions respecting the Peony 

 confined to the ancients. In our own days anodyne necklaces are worn by 

 children in villages, which are believed to aid dentition, and to prevent con- 

 Aulsions ; and the beads are turned of the roots of one or other of the 

 common Peonies. 



Order II. BERBERIDEiE— BARBERRY TRIBE. 



Sepals from three to nine in a double row, often coloured, soon falling ofll" 

 surrounded by petal-like bracts ; petals either of the same number as the sepals, 

 and opposite to them, or twice as many, often with a gland at the base ; 

 stamens of the same number as the petals, and oj)posite to them ; anthers 

 2-celled, and opening by a valve from the base upwards ; ovary solitary, 

 1-celled, 1 — 3 seeded ; fruit usually a berry. Shrubs, often bearing spines ; 

 or herbs, growing chiefly in temperate climates, often in mountainous 

 I'egions. 



1. Barberry (Berheris). — Sepals 6; petals 6, with two glands at the 

 base of each, within ; stamens 6 ; berry 2-seeded. Name supposed to be 

 from herh&rys, which is the Arabic name for the fruit. 



2. Barrenwort {Ej)im6dium). — Sepals 4 ; petals 4, with a scale at the 

 base of each, within ; pod many-seeded. Name of doubtful origin. 



1. Barberry {Berheris). 



Common Barberry {B. imlgdris). — Eacemes drooping ; spines 3-cleft ; 

 leaves inversely egg-shaped, serrated, and edged with minute hairs. Plant 

 perennial. This shrub when covered with its bright-red drooping clusters 

 of fruit is very handsome, and often planted in gardens ; nor is it uncommon 

 in a wild state in woods and coppices, and on calcareous hills. It sometimes 

 grows on old walls, as on those of Godstone Nunncrj' ; and sometimes on the 



