20 



BERBERIDEiE 



petaloid, caducous ; petals 4, minute, or absent ; fruit of one, 

 many-seeded carpel, berry-like. (Name from the Greek actCy the 

 elder, from the similarity of the leaves of the two plants.) 



I. A. spicdta (Baneberry, Herb Christopher). — The only British 

 species, i — 2 feet high ; leaves bi-ternately pinnate \ flowers white ; 

 fruit black. — Woods on limestone in the north. — Fl. May. 

 Perennial. Poisonous. 



"^15. PiEONiA (Peony). — Perennial herbs or shrubs ; leaves bi- 

 ternate \ flowers large ; sepals 5, persistent ; petals 5 — 10 ; fruit of 



ACT/^A spicAta {Baneberry). p^6nia CORALLfNA {Peony). 



2 — 5 follicles. (Named from Paeon, the legendary physician, who 

 cured the wounds of the gods in the Trojan war.) 



I.* F. corallina (Peony). — A herb 2 feet high with fasciculate 

 roots ; leaves glaucous beneath \flo:vers crimson ; follicles recurved, 

 downy. — A cultivated plant, naturalised on Steep Holm, an island 

 in the Severn. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



Ord. H. — Berberide/e. — The Barberry Family 



Herbs or shrubs with scattered simple or compound leaves and 

 polysymmetric flowers. Sepals 3, or 4 or 6 in two whorls, often 

 petaloid. Petals either equal in number to the sepals and opposite 

 to them, or twice as many, often with nectaries at their bases. 

 Stamens equal in number to the petals, and opposite to them. 

 Anthers opening by two valves turning upwards. Carpel i, i- 

 chambered. Seeds i or more. Growing principally in moun- 

 tainous parts of the temperate zones. 



