28 VI. BERBEEIDACEiE [Bcrberis 



1. HOLBCELLIA, Wall. ; El. Brit. hid. i. 108. 

 Species two, 1 Chinese. 



1. H. latifolia, Wall. ; Brandis, E. El. 13. Vera. Gophla, N.W. 



A large climber, the ends of branches often transformed iuto tendrils. 

 Outer bark corky, deeply cleft vertically. Wedges of wood with large 

 vessels, separated by very broad medullary rays, no rings of bast in the 

 wood. Leaves 3-9-foliolate, leaflets acuminate, ovate-lancealate, blade 3-6, 

 petiole i in. El. monoecious, purplish-green, sweet-scented. Sepals 6, petals 6, 

 minute, stamens 6, ovaries 3. Emit consisting of 2-3 fleshy edible oblong 

 carpels, 2-4 in. long, seeds numerous, in several vertical rows, immersed in 

 pulp. 



Himalaya 4,000-9,000 ft., from Kashmir eastwards. Assam, Khasi hills, Manipur. 

 Fl. April, May. 



Parvatia Brunoniana, Decaisne ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 108, Assam, Khasi hills, Taepo 

 mountain, S.E. of Toungoo, 5,000 ft. A large climbing shrub with trifoliolate leaves. 

 Fl. monoecious, greenish yellow, in axillary fascicled racemes. Kipe carpels 1-li in. 

 lcng, ovoid, many-seeded. 



Decaisnea insignis, Hook. fil. & Thorns., Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 107, in humid forests of the inner 

 valleys of Sikkim and Bhutan (7,000-9,000 ft.) is a small tree 10 ft. high, stem simple 

 or with a few branches, each bearing a tuft of large imparipinnate leaves, 2-3 ft. 

 long, leaflets opposite, glaucous beneath, common petiole constricted above insertion of 

 leaflets. Fl. green, monoecious, in Jong racemes. Sepals 6, acuminate, in 2 rows, petals 

 0, stamens 6, monadelphous, ovaries 3, with many 2-seriate ovules. Fruit consisting 

 of three yellow, fleshy, edible, spreading follicles, seeds many. Wood normal, medullary 

 rays narrow, pith large. 



2. BERBERIS, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 108. 



Spiny shrubs with yellow wood. Leaves spinous-toothed, simple or 

 imparipinnate. Fl. yellow, sepals 6, imbricate in two series, with a few ap- 

 pressed bracts, petals 6, imbricate, stamens 6, anther cells opening by recurved 

 valves. Ovary 1, stigma peltate, sessile or on a short style, ovules usually 

 few, basal. Fr. a berry. Upwards of 100 species, many variable, closely 

 allied, and difficult to keep apart. Temperate and subtropical regions of the 

 northern hemisphere and temperate South America. 



Section I. — Mahonia. Leaves imparipinnate, leaflets opposite. 



1. B. nepalensis, Spreng. — Syn. B. Leschenaultii, Wall. ; Wight Ic. 

 t. 940. Vern. Kandlu, Sharor, Ohamba ; Klioru, Jauns, Maranthu, Trav. 



An evergreen shrub. Leaflets 6-12 pair, ovate-lanceolate, 1-5 in. long, the 

 lowest pair often near the base, much smaller and nearly orbicular, common 

 petiole articulate at the insertion of leaflets, frequently two small subulate 

 stipules on its) broad, nearly sheathing base". Upper leaves often reduced to 

 sheathing bracts. Racemes long, compact, several at the ends of branches. 

 Berry blue-glaucous, ovoid (globose on the Nilgiris). 



Outer Himalaya, 6,000-8,000 ft., from the Ravi eastwards. .Khasi hills, Manipur. 

 Burma hills, Nilgiris. Fl. October- April. 



Section II. — Bcrberis proper. Branches ribbed; leaves simple, gradualhy 

 narrowed into "a short petiole, those on elongated shoots generally reduced to: 

 simp'e cr 3-7 forked spines, in the axils of which are arrested branchlets, 

 bearing tufts cf leaves. The shoots with elongated internodes generally grow 

 from the terminal bud of a short arrested branch. 



A. Fl. in racemes 1 , corymbs or umbels. 



2. B. vulgaris, Linn. ; Hooker's Stud. Fl. 3rd ed. 15. — Barberry. Vern. 

 Choclmr, Chamchur. Hattu. 



