Berber is. . 79 



clusters of purple berries. This is also a fine kind for 

 half-shady walks, and for similar positions and soil to 

 those recommended for B. Bcalii. Japan. 



*Berberis nepalensis. — The noble habit of this 

 plant makes it peculiarly valuable, possessing, as it does, 

 the grace of a luxuriant fern with the rigidity of texture 

 and port of a Cycas. The leaves are occasionally 2 ft. 

 in length and of a pale green colour, sometimes with 

 eight pairs of leaflets and an odd one : some of the leaflets 

 6 ins. long and nearly 2 ins. broad, with coarse spiny teeth 

 on the margin. The inflorescence is veiy striking and 

 beautiful. The Nepaul Barberry is one of those subjects 

 that are too hardy to perish in our climate, yet which 

 do not usually attain perfect development in it. It exists 

 about London in the open air, and flowers in early 

 spring ; but the leaves seldom attain one-fourth of their 

 full development, and the plant scarcely ever displays 

 its vigorous grace. In mild parts, principally in the south 

 and south-west, it grows more freely, and when judi- 

 ciously placed in sheltered positions, in deep and rather 

 sandy soil, it becomes a beautiful object. Where it 

 thrives in the open air, it may be most tastefully used 

 in the more open spots near the hardy fernery, here 

 and there among "American plants," or other choice 

 shrubs with simple leaves, and also isolated in the grass 

 a little way from the margin of the shrubbery in shel- 

 tered spots in the pleasure-ground. It should also, in 

 places favourable to its growth in the open air, prove 

 very useful as a hardy " subtropical" plant. Where it 

 does not thrive well in the open air, it should not be 

 planted. Nepaul. 



