Berberis.] V. BEEBEEIDE^. 13 



An evergreen shrub 3-6 ft. high. Leaves coriaceous, shining, impari- 

 pinnate, from 6-18 inches long. Petiole stiflf, articulate at the insertion 

 of the leaflets, broad-sheathing at the base, with 2 subulate stipules. 

 Leaflets 2-12 pair, ovate or lanceolate, often falcate, spinous -serrate ; 

 the near pair — the base — often smaller and suborbicular. Upper leaves 

 reduced to sheathing bracts. Flowers on long erect racemes, several to- 

 gether near the ends of branches. Bracteoles coriaceous, oblong or broadly 

 ovate. Berry oblong or globose, dark blue or purple. 



Outer Himalayan ranges, 6000-8000 ft., from the Eavi to Bhutan, Ehasia 

 hills, Burma, and the Nilgherries. Bark soft, corky, wood yellow, with fine 

 medullary rays and light-coloured blotches between. The faiit is eaten. 



• 2. HOLBOELLIA, Wall. 

 1. aiatifolia. Wall. Tent. Fl. Nap. t. 16. Hook. Fl. Ind. i. 108. 



A climbing shrub ; stem with corky bark, wholly glabrous. Leaves 

 3-9-foliolate, leaflets 3-6 in. long, petiolulate, ovate-lanceolate or linear, 

 acuminate. ■ Flowers moncEcious, in lateral sessile corymbs, purplish 

 green, sweet-scented. Sepals 6, 2-seriate, the outer valvate. Petals 6, 

 minute. Stamens 6. Ovaries 3 ; fruit of 1-3 many-seeded oblong berries 

 2-3 in. long. 



Himalaya, Kamaon to Assam, ascending to 9000 ft. Khasia hills. Fl. April, 

 May. M. angustifolia, Wall., ib. t. 1-7, is a variety with linear-lanceolate 

 leaves. 



Order VL CAPPARIDE^. 



■ Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with alternate leaves. Flowers, with rare ex- 

 ceptions, bisexual. Sepals 4, rarely 3 or 5, free or connate. Petals gener- 

 ally 4. Stamens almost always more than 4, often indefinite, hypogynous, 

 inserted at the base of a long or short gynophore ; anthers 2-ceUed, versa- 

 tile, generally on long slender filaments. Ovary often stipitate, style 

 short or stigma sessile. Ovules indefinite on 2-6 parietal placentas. Fruit 

 syncarpous, either more or less fleshy, or a dry, mostly elongated, capsule. 

 Seeds in most cases without albumen ; embryo incurved ; cotyledons con- 

 volute or folded, rarely plane. — Gen. Plant, i. 103; Eoyle 111. 72; Wight 

 lU. i. 33. 



Spinescent shrubs or small trees ; leaves simple ; petals not clawed, 



imbricate in bud . . 1. Cappaeis. 



An unarmed tree ; leaves trifoliolate ; petals long-clawed ; open in 



bud 2. Ckat.«:va. 



1. CAPPABIS, Linn. 



Shrubs, rarely trees, generally with stipular thorns, young parts often 

 with caducous tomentum. Leaves simple. Sepals 4, usually free. Petals 

 4, sessile, imbricate. Stamens indefinite ; filaments slender, filiform, in- 

 serted on the torus at the base of the long gynophore. Ovary stipitate, 

 generally one-celled. Fruit stalked, with many seeds embedded in a soft 

 or dry pulp. 



