BERBERIS 235 



margin set with slender, spiny teeth. Racemes erect, produced in a crowded 

 group from just beneath the terminal bud, each 2 to 3 ins. long, thickly set 

 with golden yellow, slender-stalked flowers. The first flowers begin to open 

 in February, or in mild seasons even earlier, but the great flowering time is 

 April and May. Berries very abundant and ornamental, black, but covered 

 with a fine violet-coloured bloom. 



Native of Western No America from Vancouver Island southwards ; 

 introduced in 1823. For some time after that-date it remained very expensive, 

 costing as much as ten pounds per plant, but in 1837 the price had been reduced to 

 five shillings. At the present time nice plants can be obtained for thirty shillings 

 per thousand. Few evergreen shrubs introduced from abroad have proved so 

 valuable in British gardens as this. It is very hardy ; I have seen it thriving 

 on the bleak elevations of the Yorkshire wolds. For forming a low evergreen 

 covering for the ground in moderately shaded positions, such as beneath 

 deciduous trees, there is no evergreen so beautiful and so thriving as this. It 

 is also admirable for planting as a groundwork for flowering shrubs that are 

 leafless when in blossom, like the Forsythias and Jasminum nudiflorum. It is 

 not particular as to soil. Easily increased by seed, but an abundance of plants 

 can be obtained by dividing the old plants in spring. 



Raised from seed it varies to a considerable extent, and names have been 

 given to several varieties. It appears also to have Hybridised with other 

 W. American species like B. pinnata (B. fascicularis) and B. repens, as 

 is shown by the dull glaucous-leaved forms seen in gardens, very different 

 from the polished dark green of the type. 



Var. LATI FOLIA and MACROPHYLLA have much larger, broader leaves 

 than ordinary. 



Var. MURRAYANA. Leaflets dull green, shorter, broader, and more wavy 

 than those of the type ; perhaps a hybrid with B. repens. 



Var. ROTUNDIFOLIA HERVEYi. Leaflets often in threes, large and broad, the 

 plant forming a low tuft. Probably a hybrid with B. repens. 



B. ARISTATA, De Candolle. 



A very handsome shrub, of spreading, elegant habit, as much as 10 ft. high 

 and 15 ft. in diameter, with smooth young branchlets becoming grey the second 



BERBERIS ARISTATA. 



season. Ordinarily it is deciduous, but young plants or. vigorous sucker 

 growths will retain their foliage through the winter. Leaves three to seven in 

 a tuft, li to 4 ins. long in each tuft, obovate, green on both sides, or often 



