Achlys. BERBERIDACE^E. 15 



Frequent in Oregon and northward, where it is known as the " Oregon Grape," and reported 

 southward in the coast ranges even to Monterey. Pursh's description and figure belong mainly 

 to B. rcpens. 



3. B. pinnata, Lag. Very much like the last species, but the leaves more 

 crowded and more nearly sessile, the lower pair of leaflets being approximate to the 

 base of the petiole ; leaflets usually 5 to 7 : racemes more frequently lateral upon 

 the branches; fruit oblong-ovoid, 4 lines long. Geu. & Spec. 14. Mahonia fasci- 

 cularis, DC. ; Deless. Icon. Sel. ii. 2, t. 3. 



Hills about San Francisco Bay and southward to San Diego, thence east to New Mexico. 

 Fruit pleasant to the taste and known to the Mexicans as Lena amarilla. There has always been 

 much confusion and is still some uncertainty respecting this species and its allies. Lagasca's 

 original description (published in 1803) professedly included specimens both from Monterey and 

 from Vancouver Island, while the plant cultivated in the gardens from his seed, and figured 

 under this name, appears to have been wholly the Oregon form, which Pursh afterwards included 

 with the low B. repcns in his description and figure of B. Aquifoliuin. Humboldt and Bonpland 

 afterward applied the name B. pinnata to a Mexican plant, figured by them, and DeCandolle at 

 length included all, the Mexican, Californian, and Oregon together, under the name Mahonia 

 fascicularis. The question of synonymy is most conveniently solved by retaining what has 

 become the ordinary application of the names, B. fascicularis being limited to the Mexican spe- 

 cies, which seems distinguishable from the Californian B. pinnata by its more numerous, more 

 acuminate, and less shining leaflets. 



* * Leaflets palmately nerved. 



4. B. nervosa, Pursh. Stems simple, but a few inches high ; petioles and 

 peduncles springing from the apex, accompanied by dry glumaceous rigidly acu- 

 minate bracts : leaves 1 to 2 feet long, of 11 to 17 ovate acuminate leaflets : racemes 

 elongated ; pedicels short : fruit larger than in the preceding species, 3 to 4 lines in 

 diameter. Fl. 219, t. 5, excluding flowers. Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 3949. Mahonia 

 glumacea, DC. 



Near the coast from Monterey to Vancouver Island. 



2. VANCOUVERIA, Morren & Decaisne. 



Sepals 6, obovate, reflexed, caducous with the 6 to 9 oblong membranaceous 

 bractlets. Petals 6, shorter than the sepals and opposite them, linear-spatulate, 

 nectary-like, reflexed. Stamens 6. Carpel 1, the stigma slightly dilated, cup- 

 shaped : ovules 10 or less, in 2 rows upon the ventral suture. Capsule dehiscing 

 by a dorsal valve attached by the base and persistent, usually 2 - 6-seeded. Seed 

 oblong, somewhat curved, with a broad attachment and prominent fleshy arillus : 

 embryo minute. A slender perennial herb, with radical 2 - 3-ternately compound 

 leaves, and white flowers in an open paniculate raceme upon a naked scape. 



A genus of a single species, scarcely separable from Epimedium of the Old World. 



1- V. hexandra, Morr. & Decaisne. More or less villous with brownish hairs, 

 1 to 2 feet high : root creeping : leaves diffuse, long-petioled ; the leaflets 1 to 2 

 inches broad, petiolulate, subcordate, obtusely 3-lobed, the lobes emarginate; the 

 margin thickened and often undulate : scape exceeding the leaves : pedicels elon- 

 gated, recurved : sepals 2 to 3 lines long : capsule half an inch long, gibbous-lanceo- 

 late, with a slender beak : arillus 2-lobed, more than half covering the seed. Ann. 

 Sci. Nat. 2 ser. ii. 351. Epimedium hexandrum, Hook. Fl. i. 31, t. 13. 



Shady woods near the coast from Santa Cruz to Vancouver Island. The characters of the fruit 

 and seed are those of Epimedium. 



3. ACHLYS, DC. 



Sepals and petals none. Stamens 9, in 3 rows ; filaments slender, the outer 

 dilated at the summit ; anthers short. Carpel 1 : stigma sessile, dilated : ovule 



