V. berberidace;e (oliveh). 51 



Natives of cold and temperate countries, within the tropics principally confined to elevated 

 regions. 



1. BERBERIS, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 43. 



Sepals 6-9, petaloid. Petals 6, about the same size or little smaller than 

 the sepals. Stamens 6 ; anthers deiiiscing upwards in two valves ; stigma 

 peltate. Ovules few, erect. — Shrubs with the first leaves of the shoots often 

 reduced to spines, bearing the fasciculate 1-foliolate leaves in their axils. 

 Flowers yellow, racemose, fasciculate or solitary. 



A large genus in. temperate climates, absent from the Cape and Australia. 



1. B. aristata^ DC. Si/sL Feg. ii. 8. Leaves coriaceous, more or less 

 persistent, usually obovate or oblanceolate, spinulose-scrrate or entire, variable 

 in size, in our specimens 1 in. long or less, sometimes much longer. Flowers 

 in pendulous or suberect racemes or cymes. Stigma of ovary and black isli 

 fruit supported upon a short style. — B. iinctoria, Lesch. in Mem. Mus. ix. 

 306 ; Rich. Fl. Abyss, i. 10. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Br. Roth ! Petit. 



This shrub, the only representative of the Order known to me in tropical Africa, is abun- 

 dant in the Himalaya, occurring also in the mountains of the Indian peninsula and Ceylon. 

 It is very closely allied to the common Barberry {B. vulgaris), which differs principally in 

 its sessile stigma. For synonymy, see Hook. f. et Thoms. ' Flora Indica,' i. 222. 



Order VI. NYMPH^ACE^ (by Prof. Oliver). 



Flowers mostly large, hermaphrodite. Sepals 3-6, free or united at the base 

 and adherent to the receptacle, in which the carpels are immersed. Petals 3 

 or indefinite ; the inner smaller and often passing gradually into the stamens. 

 Stamens indefinite, hypogynous, perigynous or almost epigynous, according 

 to the extent to which the ovaries are immersed in the receptacle, upon the 

 sides of which the stamens are inserted ; filaments subulate or petaloid ; 

 anthers adnate, 2-celled, introrse and dehiscing longitudinally in the African 

 species. Carpels numerous (3-oo), free or immersed in the receptacle, 

 forming a spuriously syncarpous pistil j stigmas linear, radiating, incurved 

 or consolidated. Ovules 2-3, or oo, covering the walls of the ovaries, ana- 

 tropous. Fruit more or less spongy and baccate, multilocular, indchiscent, or 

 carpels distinct. Seeds with a double albumen (perisperm and endof^erm) 

 and minute embryo. — Aquatic plants, with prostrate, rooting rhizomes, float- 

 ing usually large and orbicular leaves, and very handsome tlowers. 



A small family, represented in temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres. As is 

 often the case with water-plants, some of the species are very widely diffused and very vari- 

 able, and enjoy in consequence a proportionally extended synonymy. 



Sepals 3. Carpels free 1- Brasenia. 



Sepals 4. Carpels oo, consolidated 2. Nymi-ii.ea. 



1. BRASENIA, Schreber; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 46. 

 Sepals 3. Petals 3. Stamens 12-18 ; filaments subulate. Carpels free ; 



