WILD FLOWERS yellow and orange 



which develops into a summer-stage or form (Uredo), 

 known as a wheat rust. At one time, Massachusetts 

 farmers were obliged by a state law to destroy all 

 the Barberry bushes found growing near their wheat- 

 fields. This did not necessarily check the fungus, 

 as it is known to have propagated and spread for 

 years thereafter. The Pepperidge Bush is a native 

 of Europe and Asia, and has been introduced into this 

 country, where it has become naturalized in the Eastern 

 and Middle States, and sparingly in Canada and the 

 West. It prospers in dry, gravelly soil in waste places, 

 and grows six or eight feet high, in a healthy, robust 

 way of its own. Its many spreading branches are 

 gracefully arched and drooping at the ends. The 

 smooth gray twigs are armed with numerous sharp, 

 three-pronged spines or thorns. The thorns of the 

 Barberry really represent leaves. This is proven by 

 the fact that they produce a leaf bud in their axil. 

 If a new season's growth is examined, various gradu- 

 ations from the fully developed spiny leaf at the base, 

 to the reduced branching spine toward the tip, will 

 be found. Generally, thorns are stunted, woody 

 branches, starting from the axils of the leaves, but they 

 should not be confused with the thorns of the Wild 

 Rose or Blackberry, which are merely growths on the 

 bark, and if the bark is peeled off, the thorns adhere 

 to it. The Barberry's small yellow flowers have a 

 disagreeable odour. They have six sepals, six pistils, 

 and six stamens. The latter are curiously arranged, 

 and form little inverted arches between the thick, 



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