SYNOPSIS. 



In continuing tlie notes, care lias been taken to select subjects properly per- 

 tirining to the present volume by reason of the figures and descriptions it 

 contains. Such a \vork as the present can never serve the purpose of a 

 treatise on botany, and no pretence can be made thereto ; but these notes 

 naay often supply acceptable information on tho n;euera and orders of the 

 plants selected for illu.stration, and save the reader the trouble of travelling 

 further for it. 



BERBERIS is named from the .Arabic hrrhcrns. N.( )., Ikrhrruhnrti-. 

 LiNN.T^AN : 6, ILi.'Xiindrln : 1, Mo)iiif/ijii'ni. — The " barberry " in all its foi'ms 

 is easily recognisable, an<I is one of the most interesting of the many families 

 of familiar plants our gardens afford the meaus of studying. The order 

 comprises a. few herbaceous plants, such as the epimedium, a peat plant of 

 great beauty, but trees and shrubs prevail, for the most part hairless, but 

 often very shiny. The leaves are compound, the flowers solitary, consisting 

 of three to six sepals and petals systematically arranged. The fruit is a 

 capsule or a berry, the more conspicuous species of berbei"is producing au 

 abundance of handsome berries of a sharp, austere flavour, but wholesome, 

 and adapted for making preserves and wines. The genus Berbcris is the 

 most important, and is by some authors separated from MaJionia, the first 

 comprising the kinds of which B. ntlr/aris is the type, the second those of 

 which B. aqii'ifolin is the t}^e. The distinction serves no useful purpose, or 

 at the best oidy marks the two ends of a system of gradations. As garden 

 plants the shrubby kinds are of the highest importance, being h-ardy, various 

 in aspect, handsome, and producing a gay show of j-ellow flowers in the 

 spring of the year. The ir-ritability of the stamens is a point of some interest : 

 when touched at the base with the pohit of a pin they all spring forwti.rd and 

 clasp the 2jistils. p. 1. 



VALERIAN is a name of uncertain origin, said to be derived from 

 that of a physician named Valerius, wlio first used it in medicine. N.O., 

 Tfderkoiacecc. Linn-Tian : 3, Trun/tJria : 1, 7)/'fJ:'/o/////////.— The Greek valerian 

 or spikenard of Pliny is still occasionally used in medicine, but is not of high 

 repute. Bentley and Redwood recognise in this way the common valerian 

 ( r. oJfrri//c/II-s), which is described as exciting the cerebro- spinal system, and 

 to be denominated nervine and anti-spasmodic. There can be no doubt the 

 root of the plant is capable of causing intoxication, and is, in effect, a peculiar 

 narcotic. Our handsome garden plant Coif rant Jiiis ruber is \isually the very 

 first plant of a showy nature that is seen in a new chalk-pit. When it has 

 made a beginning by hanging its red beard on the weather-worn surfaces, 

 other plants attach tliemselves, a.nd thus in tinie a chalk-pit becomes a 

 glorious flower garden. P- ''■ 



SAXIFRAGE.-See note in synopsis. p- 9. 



AVENS. The name may be traced to arcii<'.\ and tlience to avantia 

 or avoid a. In " Ortis Sauitatis " it appears as tai/nici'i. But whatever its 

 form or sound, it is impossible now to say in what way the name and the 

 plant are related. — For notes on " Geum " see synopsi.^. u. b''. 



