242 BERBERIS 



from the axil of a spiny stipule, and this too becomes smaller as the leaves 

 decrease in size, until, near the apex of the shoot, leaves cease to be borne 

 and tiny stipules alone remain. Flowers borne during April and May, on 

 the shoots of the previous summer in dense, round clusters, ^ to f in. across, 

 from the axil of each pair of leaves right to the leafless end of the branches ; 

 they are bright golden yellow, in. across ; sepals nine, concave ; petals six, 

 erect, incurved, slightly notched. Fruit usually one-seeded, blue-black. 



Native of Chile ; discovered by Pearce, and introduced in 1861. In spite 

 of its somewhat ungainly habit it is, when seen at its best, a shrub of 

 striking beauty. There is a fine plant in the Coombe Wood nursery, the 

 mother probably of all the plants in cultivation, but a still finer one is in 

 Canon Ellacombe's garden at Bitton ; this is growing against, but not on, a 

 wall, and is 12 ft. high. Still it is not amongst the hardiest of barberries, and 

 at Kew is apt to become shabby during hard winters. It is usually propagated 

 by grafting on B. Aquifolium or B. vulgaris, but owing to the habit of the 

 stock producing suckers, layering would be preferable. B. CONGESTI FLORA, 

 Gay, of which the above has been regarded as a variety, is not in cultivation. 



B. HETEROPHYLLA , Jussieu. 



A deciduous shrub, 3 or 4 ft. high, of straggling habit, with crooked, much 

 branched, stems. Leaves of two kinds ; the first kind to I in. long, \ to \ in. 

 wide, narrowly obovate, rounded or spine-tipped at the apex, margins without 

 teeth ; second kind about the same in length, but much wider in proportion, 

 and with three or five large spiny teeth, altogether very much like a tiny holly 

 leaf in form. The leaf-clusters spring from the bases of triple spines, each 

 prong of which is \ to f in. long, and as they are often less than \ in. apart 

 on the branchlet, the shrub is formidably armed. Flowers solitary, on a stalk 

 \ in. long ; orange-yellow, with sepals and petals so incurved as to make each 

 flower a little ball. Berry about the size of a pea, black, covered with blue 

 bloom, but not seen by me in this country. 



Discovered originally in the Straits of Magellan by Commerson, but said 

 also to occur wild in other parts of Chile and Patagonia. It is a curious and 

 very rare barberry, flowering at Kew in April.. It produces sucker growths 

 from the base, by which means it can be propagated. B. ilicifolia, Forster^ 

 another species with holly-like leaves, bears some resemblance to this, but has 

 short, many-flowered racemes. 



B. HETEROPODA, Schrenk. 



(Garden and Forest, 1895, p. 455.) 



A deciduous shrub, up to about 8 ft. high, of loose, spreading habit ; branch- 

 lets glossy, smooth, brown, either armed with simple or three-parted spines 

 i in. long, or unarmed. Leaves grey green, broadly ovate or oval, rounded at 

 the apex ; the blade I to i^ ins. long, tapering at the base to a long, slender, 

 reddish stalk, f to i in. long ; margin sometimes almost or quite entire, more 

 often set with fine teeth. Inflorescences drooping, long-stalked, three of which 

 often issue from one tuft of leaves ; one being large, racemose, with as many as 

 fifteen flowers, the other two smaller, umbellate, with about three flowers. Each 

 flower is on a slender stalk, fragrant, orange-yellow, opening in May. Fruit 

 oblong or egg-shaped, |- in. long, black, covered with blue bloom. 



Native of Turkestan ; introduced to Kew in 1886 from the St Petersburg 

 Botanic Garden through Mr Albert Regel. It is distinct by reason of its long, 

 slender leaf-stalks, and long, drooping, many-flowered raceme, often flanked on 

 either side by a few-flowered umbel. 



