BAKBERRY TRIBE 27 



hanks of rivers, as on the borders of the Avon. The shrub is from three to 

 six or eight feet in height, and the foliage has somewhat of a sea-green hue ; 

 the bark is of light colour, and the flowers, which are in pendulous clusters, 

 are yellow, and appear on the shrub in June. 



This plant was in former days called the Pipperidge-bush. The modern 

 German name, Der Sauerdorn, is very expressive, for the foliage is slightly 

 acid, and the fruit most powerfully so. The French call the plant, UEpine 

 rindte ; the Italians, Crespino ; and the Russians, by the name of Barhariss. 

 The inner bark of the stem infused in beer is said to cure jaundice ; and the 

 boiled roots dye wool of a good yellow. The bark is so astringent as to be 

 commonly used by the Poles in tanning leather ; and they also dye this 

 material of a beautiful yellow, by mingling some other ingredients with the 

 bark. The fruits are so sour that birds leave their rich red clusters un- 

 touched ; but the acid, which is of the nature of oxalic acid, renders the 

 Barberry, when crushed in water, a pleasant and cooling drink in fevers ; and 

 it is also made into a good jelly. This fruit is used too by confectioners, for 

 various sweetmeats, and makes an elegant garnish for dishes. The Egyptians 

 consider it a valuable remedy in pestilential fevers, when macerated in fennel- 

 water. The fruits of some Asiatic species are dried in the sun, like raisins. 



The berries of our common Barberry are usually scarlet, bvit they are 

 sometimes purple or pale yellow. The scent of the flowers, when borne to 

 us by the winds from the distant shrub, is very fragrant, but it is disagree- 

 able when too near. Insects of various kinds seem particularly partial to 

 these blossoms, which are remarkable for the irritability of their stamens. 

 Linnaeus first recorded a fact now well known to botanists, and easily observed 

 on any summer's day, that when bees, in search of honey, touch the filaments, 

 the anthers quickly turn inwards, and discharge the pollen. The same effect 

 is instantly produced by touching them with the sharp point of a needle, and 

 is seen, not only in our native species, but in several others. 



Dr. Gordon, of Hull, in one of his lectures, thus remarks on the irritability 

 of the stamens of the Barberry : " The contractile effect in this case, as far as 

 I have observed, is always much greater than the amount of the cause by 

 which it is produced ; and in experiments I have witnessed, that relaxation 

 will take place at the same time that the mechanical cause which excited the 

 contraction continues to be impressed. Moreover, the stamen of the Barberry 

 can be made to contract even after it is cut from the flower, precisely in the 

 same manner as the heart can be excited to action after it has been removed 

 from the body." 



There was formerly a strong prejudice amongst farmers against the 

 Barberry shrub, because it was considered to injure the crops of wheat, even 

 at the distance of a hundred yards from the spot. A small parasitical fungus, 

 common on the foliage of the shi'ub, the jEcidium herheridis, was supposed to 

 generate the dust which, carried from it by the winds, originated the minute 

 fungus that causes the rust on wheat. This opinion must be erroneous, 

 Ijecause the rust on corn is caused by the growth of Puccinia cp-aminis, which 

 is a totally different plant from the fungus on the Barberry. [In spite of the 

 certainty prevailing at the time the above was written, that jEcidium her- 

 heridis and Puccinia graminis were entirely different species of fungi, more 



4—2 



