KF.Y TO THE BARBERRIES 



65 



dense spreading shrub 2 to 4 feet high with small entire-edged leaves ^ to 

 1^ inches long and usually simple spines (occasionally 3-branched). The 

 branches are deeply grooved. The pale yellow flowers are in small um- 

 bel-like clusters, and the bright 

 red fruit is nearly globular. 



European or Common Bar- 

 berry (13) — Berberis vulgaris — 

 grows from 4 to 8 feet high with 

 erect or somewhat arching gray 

 grooved branches. The leaves 

 are 1 to 2 inches long with 

 notched and somewhat spiny 

 edges. The flowers are bright 

 yellow in many-flowered hanging 

 clusters. The fruit, in the dif- 

 ferent varieties, are white, yel- 

 low, red to dark purple berries 

 which hang on and add beauty to 

 the bushes all winter. There is 

 a variety of this frequently culti- 

 vated, with purple leaves, which 

 hold their color through the sea- 

 son, atropurpurea. 

 The Holly-leaved Mahonias have holly-edged but compound evergreen 

 leaves, erect clusters of yellow flowers, and blue to black small berries. 

 The Mahonias are hardy north of Philadelphia only in sheltered positions. 

 American or Holly-leaved Mahonia (14) — Mahonia (Berberis) 

 Aquifolium — differs from Japan Mahonia (15) — Mahonia japduica — 

 in having fewer blades but a longer stem to the compound leaf : Ameri- 

 can blades 5 to ; Japan, 9 to 13. 



The use of the following key will enable the reader to determine a few 

 additional species. [Fresh seeds ; twig cuttings ; layers.] 



Fig. 21. — Ash Mahonia. 



KEY TO THE BARBERRIES WITH SIMPLE LEAVES 



* Leaves thin, deciduous, notched, in clusters above thorns ; leaf- 

 notches hair-tipped. (A.) 

 A. Branches gray and grooved ; flowers yellow in elongated racemes, 

 May and June. Many varieties of P^tropkan or Common Bar- 

 berry (13) — Berberis vulgi\ris. 

 A. Branches purplish and grooved ; leaves purple. Berberis vulgaris 

 atropurpurea. 



apgar's shrubs — 5 



