328 THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



XVI. BERBERIDACE^. Barberry Family. 



Herbs and shrubs with alternate or radical leaves, sometimes with 

 stipules: flowers regular, perfect (except 1 genus), hypogynous, soli- 

 tary or racemed: sepals and petals usually in several rows of 3 each, 

 and calyx colored: stamens as many as petals (rarely more) and one 

 opposite to each petal: anthers opening at the top by two valves or 

 lids (except in Podophyllum) : pistil 1 : fruit a berry or pod. About 20 

 genera and 100 species. 



A. Shrubs: flowers yellow: berries red or orange, remain- 

 ing on branches into the winter 1. Berberis 



AA. Herbs. 



B. Flowers on leafless scapes: leaves radical, each 



2-parted: fruit a pod, opening at the top by a lid. 2. Jeffersoiiia 

 BB. Flower on short pedicel, in fork between 2 large 



leaves: fruit a large, oval, edible berry 3. Podophyllum 



1. BfiRBERIS. Barberry. Figs. 156, 173, 205. 



Slirubs, often spiny: flowers yellow, in drooping racemes: sepals C-9, 

 colored, bracted: petals 6, each with 2 basal glandular spots: stamens G, 

 irritable, bending inward when touched: pistil 1: stigma circular, sessile: 

 berries sour, 1-few-seeded: leaves simple or compound, bases dilated and 

 jointed on short petioles, usually spiny-toothed, sometimes reduced to 

 cleft spines. 



B. vulgaris, Linn. Common barberry. Leaves with repandly-toothed 

 margins, teeth spinous-pointed or represented by branched (3-pronged) 

 spines: berries oblong, scarlet, acid. Europe: but cultivated and naturalized 

 in eastern and middle states. 



B. Canadensis, Pursh. Shrub 1-3 ft., native to southern mountains, 

 with oval berries and few-flowered racemes. 



B. Thunb6rgii, DC. Cultivated, low shrub with small entire leaves and 

 handsome horizontal sprays: flowers solitary or in pairs, on slender pedii-els, 

 from leaf-axils: berries bright red, remaining on the twigs into the winter: 

 leaves K-1 in. long, also red in fall. Japan. 



2. JEFFERSONIA.. Twin-leaf. Rheumatism Root. 



Perennial glabrous herb, from roots of matted, blackish fibers, with 

 ample 2-parted leaves, rising on long petioles from the roots: scape bearing 1 

 terminal large white flower: sepals 4, soon falling: petals usually 8, oblong: 

 stamens 8, with linear anthers on slim filaments: stigma peltate, with many 

 ovules on lateral placentae: pod green, leathery, becotning pear-shaped and 

 dehisces by a lid, opening half-way round the upper part, from which the 

 many, rounded seeds, arilled on one side, spill forth. 



J. diphyila, Pers. Scape erect to 8 or 12 inches: leaves divided longitu- 

 dinally into two parts, with usually entire margins. Very interesting little 

 plant in rich woods, spring: sometimes cultivated. 



