l64 ' BERBERIDACEAE. 



Berberis nervosa rursh. Oregon Grape. Stems erect, simple, 15-30 cm. 

 high; leaves 30-75 cm. long, with 11-19 leaflets, these ovate or lanceolate, 

 acuminate, spinulose-dentate; bud scales lanceolate, acuminate, 2-2.5 cm. 

 long, persistent, becoming dry and rigid; racemes terminal, one or several, 

 10-20 cm. long; pedicels shorter than the fruit; berries globose, purple-black 

 with a white bloom, very acid. 



Wry common in coniferous woods. 



Berberis aquifoliiun Pursh. Shrub often 1-2 m. high, erect or nearly so; 

 leaflets 5-11, evergreen, shining, oblong or ovate, 4-10 cm. long, with numerous 

 spiny teeth; racemes usually clustered, subterminal; berries black with a bloom, 

 usually pear-shaped. 



In open places, not uncommon. 



209. VANCOUVERIA. 



Perennial herbs with triternate leaves; flowers in racemes or 

 panicles; sepals 6, in 2 series, obovate, petal-like, reflexed, sub- 

 tended by 6 or 9 calyx-like bracts in 2 or 3 series; petals 6, clawed, 

 nectariferous; stamens 6; style slender; stigma terminal; ovary 

 2-9-ovuled; follicle oblong, membranaceous, 2-valved. 



Vancouveria hexandra (Hook.) Morr. & Dene. Nearly glabrous with a few 

 pilose hairs on the stem and petioles; leaves triternate, the petioles slender; 

 leaflets thin, somewhat cordate at base, 2-5 cm. long, angularly 3-lobed, or 

 the margin repand or sub-entire; scape naked or bearing a single leaf, 10-30 

 cm. high, exceeding the leaves; flowers white. 



In deep woods; valley of the Nisqually River, Washington, and southward. 



210. ACHLYS. 



Herbs with creeping rootstocks; flowers in an erect spike; 

 stamens 6-12; filaments elongated, filiform, or the outer dilated; 

 ovary ovoid with a broad sessile stigma; ovule solitary; fruit at 

 first somewhat fleshy, at length dry indehiscent, 1-seeded. 



Achlys triphylla (Smith) DC. Vanilla-leaf. Rootstocks slender, scaly; 

 leaves mostly solitary^, glabrous, erect, the petiole about 30 cm. long; leaflets 3, 

 spreading, broadly cuneate or fan-shaped, the outer margin coarsely sinuate- 

 dentate, the larger 5-10 cm. long; scape naked, as long as the leaf, the small 

 w'hite flowers in an erect spike 2-3 cm. long. 



Common in open coniferous woods. The plant contains cumarin which 

 gives it a vanilla-like odor in drying. 



Family 44. PAPAVERACEAE. Poppy Family. 



Herbs with a milky or watery juice; leaves alternate, simple 

 or compound, without stipules; flowers perfect, regular or irreg- 

 ular, the parts in twos or fours; sepals 2; petals 4-12, separate 

 or somewhat united; stamens 6, diadelphous, or numerous and 

 distinct; ovary 1 -celled with 2 or more parietal placentae; fruit 

 a dry 1 -celled pod with numerous seeds. 



