Chapter XXIX. 



From Barberries to Witch-hazels. 



Barberries. The three plants of the barberry family which 

 occur in Minnesota are of quite different appearance. One, the 

 common barberry, introduced from Europe, grows as a wild 

 plant in the southern part of the state, but is by no means 

 abundant. It is a smooth shrub with ovate saw-tooth-mar- 

 gined leaves and flowers produced on drooping racemes in the 

 axils of some the leaves. The flowers are yellow and unpleas- 

 antly scented. The fruit clusters are racemes of scarlet sour 

 berries, somewhat oblong in shape and about half an inch in 

 length. Many of the leaves are reduced to three-pronged thorns. 

 This is the plant which is famous as the host of the cluster-cup 

 stage of the wheat rust, and for this reason it is a dangerous 

 shrub to cultivate. The other members of the barberry family 

 are herbs. One of them, the blue cohosh, is found in shaded 

 woods, growing a foot or more in height and resembling, to 

 some extent, the meadow-rue. But when the cohosh fruits 

 it produces clusters of blue berries which are in reality seeds, 

 for they burst the thin fruit wall when young and mature 

 outside of it. The other, known as the may-apple or wild 

 mandrake, has, at the base, large shield-shaped leaves almost a 

 foot in diameter, while the upper leaves are deeply lobed, lighter 

 green above than below. The flowers are white, somewhat 

 butercup-like, nodding from the axils of the leaves and one or 

 two inches wide. A true fleshy berry of a yellow color is pro- 

 duced, two inches long and edible. This plant occurs in damp 

 woods along the flood plains of streams flowing into the Mis- 

 sissippi, in the extreme southeastern portion of the state. 



Moonseeds. The moonseeds, represented in Minnesota by 

 a single form, are characterized by the disk-shaped or coin- 

 shaped seeds, hence the popular name. The Minnesota moon- 



