66 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



as most of the Paeonies. The ground should be well trenched and 

 manured if grown in quantity. 



BERBERIDACE^E 



Shrubs or herbs. Stamens opposite the petals, and the same 

 number as them. Ovary of I carpel, with seeds attached to the 

 bottom or to one side of the cavity. A small family spread over 

 the temperate regions and tropical mountains of the globe. 



EPIMEDIUM L. 



Sepals, petals and stamens 4 each ; flowers in a very loose raceme. 

 Epimedium alpinum L. 



Rootstock rampant. Stem erect, i-i J feet. Root-leaves scaly ; 

 stem-leaves biternate ; leaflets petioled, oval, heart-shaped at the 

 base, with aristate teeth. Flowers in a loose panicle, hairy-glan- 

 dular, yellow, with blood-red centre. 



Groves and thickets. April, May. Occasionally seen in parts 

 of Switzerland, but, as in Britain, sub-spontaneous and an escape 

 from gardens. Not found in France. 



Distribution. Tyrol, Carniola, South and S.E. of Europe. 



BERBERIS L. Barberry. 



Shrubs, with usually prickly leaves. Sepals 8 or 9, yellow, 

 outer sepals minute. Petals 6, in 2 series, with honeyed glands 

 at the base. Stamens 6. Fruit a berry. A genus of numerous 

 species indigenous chiefly in Asia and America. Many exotic 

 species are cultivated in English gardens ; some, belonging to a 

 section with pinnate leaves, are occasionally classed as a genus 

 called Mahonia. 



Berberis vulgaris L. Common Barberry. 



A glabrous shrub with yellow wood, 6 or 8 feet in height, the 

 branches armed with 3-lobed thorns at the base of the tufts of 

 leaves. Leaves alternate or clustered, obovate, sharply toothed. 

 Flowers yellow, in elegant drooping racemes. Berries small, oblong, 

 acid, green, and then yellow, and finally bright red. 



Hedges, open woods and hillsides from the plains up to 5000 

 feet, the colouring of the berries in^early autumn being a beautiful 

 sight. The flowers appear in May and June. 



Distribution. Nearly all Europe, and extending from temperate 

 Asia to the Himalaya. But it has been so frequently planted that 

 in Europe its real limits cannot easily be determined. In Britain 

 it is scattered, but doubtfully indigenous. 



