CLASS VI. OIll.KK I.J ]!i;kbkuis. 4GI 



CLASS VI. 

 HEXAN DRIA. 6 Stamkns (equal.) 



ORDER I. 

 MONOGYN'IA. I Pistil. 



GENUS I. BERBE'RIS.— Linn. Bdrhernj. 



Nat. Old. Berueki'de^. Vent. 



Gen. CttAB. Calyx of six coloured concave pieces, ihe outer ones 

 scaly. Petals six, each with two glands at the hase. Fruit a 

 two or three seeded fleshy icnv/i —Name, /{erhcrj/s, according to 

 dti Theis, i^ the common Arabic name of the fruit of this plant. 

 i. B. vulga'ris, Linn. (Fig. .52.5.) Common Barberry. Spines three- 

 cleft ; leaves obovate oblong, with bristly serralures ; racemes pendu- 

 lous, many flowered ; petals entire. 



lEnglish Botany, t. 49. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 184. — Hooker, 

 British I^lora, vol. i. p. 157. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 14. 



A shrub, from four to six feet high, with slender angular upright 

 stems, clothed with a pale grey smoothish bark ; the wood yellow, 

 brittle. Spines alternate, stout, straight, three-cleft, dilated at the 

 base, aiid froni their axis arise the fascicule of leaves and the flowers. 

 iLeavcs obovate, oblong, tapering into a footstalk, of a yellowish green 

 and smooth above, a pale glaucous green beneath, smooth or scattered 

 over with hairs, and with a prominent mid-rib and reticulated veins, 

 the margins serrato-ciliated, with pale bristles pointed forwards. lii- 

 jlorescence a stalked axillary raceme, of numerous pale yellow flowers 

 hanging pendent froni amidst the tuft of leaves, each flower on a 

 slender pedicle, from the axis of a small lanceolate bracted, of a faint 

 oppressive smell. Calyx of six yellow pieces, the outer ones somewhat 

 scaly. Petals six, oblong, obtuse, each having at its base two oblong 

 prominent red glarids on each side of the short claw. Stametis about 

 as long as the petals, and opposite to them. Filaments flat. Anthers 

 of two separate cells, opening elastically. Stigmas orbicular. Fruit 

 a one celled berry, oblong, slightly curved, crowned by the obtqse 

 black stigmas, of a fine scarlet colour, containing an acidulated pulp, 

 and two, sometimes three seeds, oblong, cylindrical, erect, attacheij 

 latefilly to the bottom of the cell, its covering crustaceoiis, and albumen 

 ilesHy. 



voL t. 3 ^ 



