236 BERBERTS 



whitish beneath; always spine-tipped, but varying from few or numerous teeth 

 on the margins to none at all. Each tuft of leaves springs from a single or 

 triple spine sometimes i ins. long, and produces one drooping raceme 2 to 3 

 ins. long. Flowers numerous, bright golden yellow. Berries spindle-shaped 

 or oblong, up to J in. long, red, covered with blue-white bloom. 



Var. CHITRIA (B. Chitria, Lindley, Bot. Reg., t. 729). Flowers in panicles 

 (not racemes) up to 5 ins. long ; wood reddish brown the second year ; 

 blossoming season, June and July. Twigs downy when young. 



Var. FLORIBUNDA, Hooker fil. (Bot. Reg., vol. 27, t. 46, as B. coriaria), 

 has smaller leaves and longer-stalked flowers. 



Var. INTEGRIFOLIA is a form whose leaves have very few or no teeth. 



Native of the Himalaya, and represented by a great number of slightly 

 varying forms, all of which are valuable garden plants. Of all deciduous 

 barberries this is the strongest-growing ; it is also one of the most ornamental. 

 It is an admirable shrub on a spacious lawn, almost as striking when loaded 

 with its fine trusses of blue-white berries as when it is in bloom. So well adapted 

 to our climate is it, that it has been found wild in English hedgerows, having 

 grown there, no doubt, from seeds deposited by birds. 



B. ASIATICA, Roxburgh. 



A strong-growing, vigorous evergreen shrub, 6 ft. or more high, branchlets 

 very minutely downy, somewhat furrowed, yellowish. Leaves hard and 

 leathery, \\ to 3^ ins. long, obovate, or sometimes nearly orbicular, tipped with 

 a spiny tooth, the margin often entire, sometimes set with a few large, sharp 

 teeth, dark green above, whitish beneath. Flowers yellow, in short corymbose 

 racemes. Berries egg-shaped or nearly globular, red, then black covered with 

 purplish bloom. 



Native of the Himalaya ; first introduced early in the nineteenth century, 

 but still very rare. It is only suitable for CornwaH and similarly mild localities, 

 and even there is sometimes affected by cold. It lived at Kew for a good 

 many years on a sunny wall. B. aristata and its var. Chitria are often mistaken, 

 and made to do duty, for this species. But asiatica is more strictly evergreen, 

 is always white beneath the harder leaves, and the inflorescence is shorter 

 and wider. 



B. BREVIPANICULATA, C. K. Schneider. 



A deciduous shrub, 4 to 6 ft. high, of rather spreading habit, with whip- 

 like branches ; young branchlets reddish, not downy, grooved ; spines in threes 

 (solitary towards the end of the shoot), pale brown, slender, up to i in. long. 

 Leaves % to I J ins. long, J to in. wide, obovate, tapered at the base, rounded 

 or abruptly pointed at the apex, very shortly stalked, entire or sparsely toothed 

 towards the end, dull green and smooth. Flowers pale yellow, in panicles 

 i to 2 ins. long, produced towards the end of the shoots from the joints. Fruit 

 egg-shaped, J in. long, terra-cotta red, more or less covered with purple bloom. 



Native of W. China; introduced by Wilson in 1904. This bush forms a 

 dense mass of twiggy branches from out of which the long whip-like young 

 shoots are thrust. It is very handsome in fruit in September. Closely allied 

 and very similar to this is B. PRATTII, C. K. Schneider, but its leaves are pale 

 green beneath, not glaucous, as in brevipaniculata, and its young shoots are 

 minutely downy (see Bot. Mag., t. 8549), Wilson, No. IO5OA. 



B. BUXIFOLIA, Lamarck. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 6505 ; B. dulcis, Sweet.") 



A bush usually 6 to 10 ft. high, of erect, stiff habit, partially evergreen in 

 ordinary seasons, but losing most or all of its leaves during winters of 



