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SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



BERBERIDACEjE, OR BARBERRY FAMILY 



A small family of about 100 species of herbs and shrubs, growing 

 mostly in temperate regions. The leaves are simple or compound, 

 the flowers are either single or in racemes and the fruit is a berry or 

 capsule. Among the anatomical characteristics the following are 

 most prominent: The trachese are usually marked with simple pores 

 and the primary wood wedges are separated by broad medullary 

 rays (Fig. 104). Calcium oxalate occurs in the form of aggregates or 

 solitary crystals. There are no special secretion cells or glandular 



Fia. 101. Lath-shade, affording partial shade, especially adapted for growing 

 woodland plants, such as Podophyllum peltatum, Sanguinaria canadensis, 

 Panax quinquefolium (Ginseng), etc. From Farmers' Bulletin 551, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



hairs. A number of crystalline substances are present and some of 

 these, as berberin, are very characteristic of the plants of this family. 

 In the epidermal cells of certain species of Mahonia occur greenish 

 or prismatic crystals of an organic substance. Globular bodies, 

 resembling silica, have been found in the medullary ray cells of the 

 petioles of Lardizabala. In the chloroplasts of the palisade tissues 

 of Berberis vulgaris occur acicular or sphenoidal crystalloids. The 

 non-glandular hairs are usually unicellular, in some instances they 



