CHAP. VIII. BERBERA CE. BE 'RBERIS. 299 
art’ the laurel tribe.” (Penny Cyc., vol. iv. p: 259.) The genera containing 
the hardy species are two, Bérberis and Mahonia. They are shrubs, or low 
trees, inhabitants of Europe, Asia, and of North and South America; but 
they are not met with in the interior of Africa, or the South Sea Islands,’ 
They are usually found in the temperate zones; but some of them inhabit 
high mountains within the tropics. The seeds are very tenacious of life, 
and, being small, and easily conveyed from one country to another, a number 
of new species have recently been introduced from Nepal and South America. 
The wood of some of the species is used for dyeing yellow; and the more 
common have been admitted into the materia medica, from the days of Galen 
to the present time, on account of their bitter and astringent properties. All 
the species are ornamental, and those of them which are evergreen eminently 
so. They are all readily propagated by seeds, which most of them ripen in 
England, and also by side suckers and root suckers, which almost all the 
species produce in abundance. The fruit is generally edible, and abounds 
in the malic acid. The genera and species of this order have recently been 
arranged and described, in a masterly manner, by Dr. Lindley, in the Penny 
Cyclopedia; from which article, from Don’s Miller, and from our own 
observations, we have drawn up this chapter. The distinctive characters of 
the two genera of Bérberis and Mahonia are as under : — 
®BrRBERIS. Sepals 6, furnished on the outside with 3 scales. Petals 6, with 
2 glands on the inside of each at the base. Stamens toothless. Berries 
2—3-seeded. (Don’s Mill.,i. p. 114.) Flowers in simple, mostly pendu- 
lous, racemes ; in some species solitary. Leaves undivided. 
Manon4. Sepals 6, furnished on the outside with 3 scales. Petals 6, with- 
out glands on the inside. Stamens furnished with a tooth on each side, at 
the top of the filament. Berries 3—9-seeded. (Jbid.) Flowers in erect 
racemes, that are disposed several together in a panicle. Leayes pinnate. 
Genus I. 
fallallJ 
BE’RBERIS Lin. Tue Berserry. Lin. Syst. Hexandria Monogfnia. 
Identification. Lin. Gen., 442. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 105.; Don’s Mill., 1. p. i14. 
Synonymes. Pipperidge Push ; E’pine vinette, Fr. ; Berberitze, Ger. 
Derivations. Berberys is the Arabic word used for this plant by Averrhoes and other writers on 
medicine; but some persons derive the name from the Greek word berbderi, signifying a shell, from 
the leaves of the common species having a hollow surface. Bochart says that the word Bérbevis is 
derived from the Pheenician word barar, which signifies shining like a shell, from their shining 
leaves. Gerard says that the word Berbery is a corruption of amyrberis, the name given to 
the plant by Avicenna). Du Hamel says that Bérberis is derived from an Indian word signifying 
mother of pearl. _Pipperidge bush, or piprage tree, Gerard says, is Dr. Turner’s name for the 
lant, and itis still given to it in Cambridgeshire. E’pine vinette signifies the acid, or sorrel, thorn, 
m the taste of the fruit and leaves. 
Gen. Char. Sepals 6, guarded on the outside by 3 scales. Petals 6, with 2 
glands on the inside of each. Stamens toothless. Berries 2—3-seeded. 
Seeds 2, rarely 3, laterally inserted at the base of the berries, erect, ate 
with a crustaceous coat and fleshy albumen. Cotyledons leafy, elliptical. 
Radiele long, capitellate at the tip. (Don’s Mil.,1. p.114.) B. hetero 
phylla Juss. has toothed stamens. 
Description. The species are all shrubs of from 2 ft. or 3 ft. to 18 ft. or 
20 ft. in height, in a wild state; some of them attaining the height of 30 ft. in 
gardens. They all throw up numerous side suckers, and the stronger-growing 
species, if these were carefully removed, might be formed into very handsome 
small trees. In all the species the flowers are yellow. The fruit is generally 
red; but in some species it is black or dark purple, and in some varieties 
of the species it is white or yellow: it is always acid, and more or less 
