Berberis.~\ flora indica. 223 



in Bot. Reg. N.S. xiv. t. 46. B. umbellata f Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1844. t. 



44, non Wall. mss. 



y. micrantha ; foliosa, foliis valde coriaceis obovato-lanceolatis lan- 

 ceolatisve (1-3-pollicaribus) grosse spinuloso-dentatis, racemis elon- 

 gatis nutantibus, floribus parvis. — Wall. Cat. sub 1474 ! 



Hab. Per totam Hiraalayam temperatam, a Bhotan usque ad Kumi- 

 ar, alt. 6-10,000 ped. ; et in montibus Nilghiri et Zeylaime, alt. 6- 



7000 ped. — a. normalis. Vulgatissima a Nipalia ! ad Sirmur! sed non 



in Sikkim visa. — /3. // 



/ — y. mi- 



ped., Sir. et Wint.f Simla, alt. 9000 ped. ! Kunawar, Munrc 

 crantha. Nipal, Wall.! Garhwal ! Sikkim, alt. 9000 ped.! Bhotan, Grif- 

 fith !— (Fl. vere.) (v. v.) 



This plant we regard as only less variable than B. vulgaris, from which its gene- 

 rally much more coriaceous leaves, more fascicled flowers of the raceme, and the 

 long style and small stigma, best distinguish it. Several forms are known in our 

 gardens, of which B. Chitria and B. aristata are the most marked, but these are cer- 

 tainly not specifically distinct. In the Himalaya we find far too many intermediate 

 states to admit of our separating them even as varieties, and we believe that they are 

 chiefly due to humidity for their characters. The B. tinctoria of the Nilghiri moun- 

 tains "and Cevlon is another form which sometimes appears distinct, but we have 

 many specimens from those countries wholly uudistinguishable from the Himalayan 



ones. . 



a. normalis. The leaves vary much in size, and the small-leaved specimens lroni 

 Simla, having often smaller flowers too (and which might as well have been deluded 

 under var. micrantha), are identical with both Nilghiri and Ceylon individuals lhe 

 handsomest state of this varietv is the Kumaon one known in gardens ^as B. Ui Una, 

 Ham., with broad elliptical, almost entire, green, veined leaves, often 34 inches long, 

 and racemose panicles 4 inches long, bearing fascicles of flowers ^ inch in dmmeter ; 

 it has dark berries ±-f inch long, often thickly covered with bloom. The state 

 figured by Ker in the 'Botanical Magazine,' with lanceolate spmidose leaves and 



J _ . . _i_- vi j :«+.'«« <W»yyi tViic iiia form (H 



numerous 



CKtria) inhabits Nepal, Kumaon, Garhwal, and Sirmorc; we have it not from 

 Sikkim, nor from the peninsula. It is scarcely an evergreen, though the leaves 

 remain for a long time. In the peninsular and Ceylon plant (Ji. tmctorta) the 

 leaves are l£-2 indies long, veined, vary from orbicular to obovate and lanceolate, 

 are all aristate and more or less spinulose, and often very glaucous below. It was 

 originally referred to B. aristata by Lindley in the 'Penny ty. opaedia; its styh 

 is sometimes a line long. It is frequently an evergreen. A host of subvaneties of 

 var. normalis, often grafted on vulgaris, but which keep their habit for a certain 

 length of time in gardens, are referable to states of the Nipal and arge-lenved form 

 called Chitria, of the very glaucous evergreen peninsular plant called tmctorta, and 

 of the small lanceolate-leaved Simla one, the angusiifoha of Roxburgh. 



0. fioribunda. Many specimens of this appeared to be so distinct from var. a nor- 

 malis, that we at first hesitated about uniting them ; we find, however, not only that 

 they are connected by every intermediate grade, but that several Himalayan bota- 

 nists well acquainted with their forms have preceded us m uniting them. The very 

 regularly racemose disposition of the flowers is its best character but on some of 

 StracheJ and Winterbottom's and WaUich's specimens both fasciculate and corymbose 

 and racemose flowers occur, and sometimes on the same specimen. The pedicels ot 

 the flowers also vary extremely, from *-f inch long, are either slender or stouter 

 and almost flchy, arid are green or very glaucous. The floors are usually pale, the 

 petals bifid; berry shortly oblong, very glaucous, it- style dtftaK*. The B conarta 

 of Rovle appears to us undoubtedly this plant, ditfenng only in the lanceolate leaves 

 and red fruit without bloom, characters of no importance, lhe name Chitrta was 



