78 BERBERIDACEJE. 



The close alliance of the Berberidaces to the preceding orders is admitted 

 by all botanists, perhaps, except Dr. Lindley, who has at length proposed a 

 widely different arrangement, which is evidently based upon peculiar grounds, 

 by no means compatible w-ith ordinary views of botanical affinity.* 



The family consists of about 12 genera, all of few or single species, ex- 

 cepting Berberis itself, distributed over the northern temperate zone, chiefly 

 in the cooler parts, and extending southward along mountain ranges only. 

 In America the genus Berberis is also represented at the southern extremity 

 of the continent. The berries are usually acid and edible or harmless ; the 

 foliage is often acid ; the bark and roots of the woody species are astringent, 

 and the roots of one or two are drastic. 



The compact wood of Berberis trifoliolata exhibits very broad medullary 

 rays, much wider, towards the circumference of old stems, than the woody 

 wedges themselves, which fork sparingly, after the manner of some Aristo- 

 lochias. The annual layers are indistinct. Young stems of Nandina exhibit 

 a similar structure. 



Conspectus of the United States Genera. 



* Anthers opening by uplifted valves. 

 ■*- Shrubs. Embryo nearly as long as the albumen : cotyledons foliaceous. 

 Berberis. (Plate 31.) Stamens and petals 6. Stigma umbilicate. 

 Berry one- few-seeded. — Leaves or leaflets spinulose-toothed. 

 h — i- Herbs. Embryo small or minute : cotyledons thick. 

 Leontice $ Caulophvllum. (Plate 32.) Stamens and petals 6. Ovary 

 2-ovuled, bursting and evanescent after fertilization. Seeds drupa- 

 ceous. — Leaves 3-ternate. 

 Diphylleia. (Plate 33.) Stamens and petals 6. Berry few-seeded. — 

 Flowers cymose. Cauline leaves 2, peltate, deeply 2-cleft, 7 - 9-lobed. 

 Jeffersonia. (Plate 34.) Stamens and petals 8. Pod opening trans- 

 versely half round, many-seeded. Seeds with a lateral arillus. — 

 Scape naked, 1-flowered. Leaves 2-parted. 



* * Anthers not opening by uplifted valves. 

 Podophyllum. (Plates 35, 36.) Petals 6-9: the stamens twice their 

 number (in Amer. species). Berry large, many-seeded. Seeds on a 

 very thick lateral placenta, inclosed in a pulpy arillus. — Flower sol- 

 itary, in the fork of the two peltate palmately-lobed leaves. 

 Croomia. (Plate 37.) Genus of doubtful affinity. 



" Veg. Kingd. p. 432-445. — In his Berberal alliance, Dr. Lindley com- 

 bines, as the nearest allies of BerbcridiLcew, the DroseracetB, Fumariticete, Vita- 

 cur, Cyrillacea, Ac. He excludes, however, frum the Barberry Family the ge- 

 nus Podophyltum s " which some botanists fency should stand here "; — a fancy 

 which originated with Mr. Brown, ami which does not appear extraordinary 

 when that genus (and especially its hexandrous species) is compared with Jef- 

 fersonia and Diphylleia. 



