362 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



A supposed hybrid between this species and the tenderer M. pinnata, 

 Fedde, is M. Wagneri, Rehd. {M. pinnata var. Wagneri, Jouin), with 7-11- 

 foholate leaflets and short petioles; it grows taller than the preceding species, 

 but is apparently not yet in cultivation in this country. 



M. Bealii, Carr. {M. japonica var. Bealii, Fedde. Berberis Bealii, Fort.). 

 Shrub to 15 feet tall, with stout upright stems: leaves about 1 foot long; 

 leaflets 9-15, roundish-ovate to ovate-oblong, 2-5 inches long, with 2-5 

 large spiny teeth on each side, the lateral ones very oblique at base, the 

 lowest pair much smaller and close to the base of the petiole, the terminal 

 leaflet stalked, truncate or subcordate at base, larger than the others, dull 

 dark bluish-green above, glaucescent beneath, rigidly coriaceous: flowers 

 lemon-yellow, fragrant, crowded, in fascicled upright and stout racemes 3-6 

 inches long, on pedicels about -g^ inch long: fruit bluish-black. Flowers in 

 May: fruit in autumn. China. — Introduced by Fortune in 1845 to Great 

 Britain. It stands ordinary winters in the neighborhood of Boston, but is 

 more or less injured or killed back in severe winters. A desirable shrub on 

 account of its bold striking foliage and the large clusters of fragrant flowers. 

 Often cultivated under the name M. japonica or Berberis japonica, but the 

 true M. japonica, DC, appears not to be in cultivation in this country. 



BUXACEiE. BOX FAMILY 



BUXUS, L. BOX 



Evergreen shrubs or trees; winter-buds with several outer scales: leaves 

 opposite, short-petioled, penninerved, entire, coriaceous, usually glabrous: 

 flowers apetalous, in axUlary and terminal clusters consisting usually of a 

 terminal pistillate flower and several lateral staminate flowers; the latter with 

 4 sepals and 4 stamens exceeding the sepals and a rudimentary pistil; pistil- 

 late flowers with 6 sepals and a 3-celled ovary with 3 short styles: fruit a 

 subglobose or obovoid 3-liorned capsule separating into 3 2-horned valves, 

 each with 2 lustrous black seeds. (Ancient Latin name of the box-tree.) — 

 About 30 species in the Mediterranean region, eastern Asia and the West 

 Indies and Central America. 



B. sempervirens, L. Much-branched dense shrub or small tree to 15, 

 rarely to 30 feet tall; branchlets quadrangular, puberulous: leaves elliptic 

 or ovate to oblong, 3^-13^ inches long, obtuse or emarginate at apex, dark 

 green above, light or yellowish-green beneath, lustrous on both sides; petiole 

 usually puberulous: flowers in axillary clusters; staminate flowers sessile; the 

 rudimentary pistil half as long as the calyx: fruit about H inf"h long. Flowers 

 in spring; fruit in autumn. Southern Europe, North Africa, and western 

 Asia. — Cultivated since ancient times in Europe and early introduced into 



