BERBERIDACEAE (BARBERRY FAMILY) 103 



CC. Akenes ovate or oblong or orbicular, blunter. 



D. Akenes few to many, 4-6 mm. long, ovate; seed head usually not globular 



\V. E. T. fendleri 



DD. Akenes many, about 6 mm. long, obovate; seed head dense, globular. W. 



T. polycarpum 



AA. Akenes terete or but slightly flat, ovate to short-oblong. 



E. Leaves glabrous and glaucous; flowers dioecious. E. T. venulosum 



EE. Leaves obscurely glandular or waxy; flowers polygamous. E. 



T. purpurascens 



BERBERIDACEAE (BARBERRY FAMILY) 



Herbs or shrubs, perennial. Leaves simple or compound, alter- 

 nate, often all basal. Flowers perfect, solitary or in racemes. 

 Sepals and petals generally imbricated in several sets. Stamens 

 opposite the petals and as many as them; anthers extrorse, opening 

 by valves. Pistil i; style short, ovary superior. Fruit a berry 

 or capsule. Seeds 2 to many. 



A. Herbs ; leaves deciduous ; ternately i-3-compound, not spiny. 



B. Leaf only i ; leaflets 3 ; flowers in a spike ; sepals and petals none. W. C. 

 (Gk. achlys = mist ; suggested by the flowers.) 



Achlys triphylla (SWEET-AFTER-DEATH) 



BB. Leaves more than i; leaflets more than 3 to a leaf; flowers in a panicle; 

 sepals and petals present. VANCOUVERIA (p. 103) 



AA. Shrubs; leaves evergreen, pinnately i-compound, spiny-toothed at margin. 



BERBERIS (p. 103) 



VANCOUVERIA (BARREN-WORT) 



Flowers white or yellow; panicle bracted. Sepals 6, obovate. Petals 

 6, shorter than the sepals and opposite them, linear-spatulate. Fruit a 

 capsule. Seeds many. (Honor of G. Vancouver, a Pacific explorer.) 



A. Leaves thin, membranous, not white margined. W. C. V. hexandra 



AA. Leaves thick, somewhat coriaceous, narrowly white margined. U. 



V. chrysantha 



BERBERIS (BARBERRY) 



Flowers yellow, in bracted racemes. Sepals 6-9, petal-like. Petals 6. 

 Stamens 6 ; anthers opening by valves at the top. Pistil i ; stigma pel- 

 tate. Fruit a berry. Seeds i to few. The roots are medicinal. (From 

 Arabic berberys = the name for the fruit of these plants.) 



A. Leaves with the 3 chief veins from the base. W. C. E. 



B. nervosa (DULL OREGON-GRAPE) 

 AA. Leaves with but i vein from the base. 

 B. Leaflets 3-7, pale green, dull; leaf teeth with weak spines. U. C. E. 



B. repens (SMALL OREGON-GRAPE) 



BB. Leaflets 5-11, bright green, shining; leaf teeth with strong spines. W. C. E. 



B. aquifolium (SHINING OREGON-GRAPE) 



