BERliERIDE/E 



petaloid, caducous ; petals 4, minute, or absent ; fruit of one, 

 many-seeded carpel, berry-like. (Name from the Greek aiie, the 

 elder, from the similarity of the leaves of the two plants.) 



I. A. spicdta (Baneberry, Herb Christp'pher). — The only British 

 species, i — 2 feet high ; leaves bi-ternately pinnate ; /tim'ets white ; 

 fruit black. — Woods on limestone in the north. — Fl. May. 

 Perennial. Poisonous. 



*r5. P,'h;i'iNiA (Peony). — Perennial herbs or shrubs; leai'es bi- 

 ternate ; flowers large ; sepa/s 5, persistent ; petals 5 — 10 ; fruit of 



S7 



ACT.iA ,^PIC.^T.\ iPaiU'I\ 



P.^iSn'IA CriR.ALI I\'A {Pco 



2 — 5 follicles. (Named from Pfeon, the legendary physician, who 

 cured the wounds of the gods in the Trojan war.) 



I.* P. eora/lina (Peony). — A herb 3 feet high with fasciculate 

 roots ; leaves glaucous beneath ;flo:cers crimson ; follicles recurved, 

 downy. — A cultivated plant, naturalised on Steep Holm, an island 

 in the Severn. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



Ord. n. — Berberike.'e. — Thf, Barberry F.-\mily 



Herbs or shrubs with scattered simple or compound lea-ees and 

 polysymmetric flenuers. Sepals 3, or 4 or d ut two whorls, often 

 petaloid. Petals either equal m number-to the sepals and o])posite 

 to them, or twice as manv, often with^ nectaries at their bases. 

 Stamens equal in number to the petals, and opposite to them. 

 Anthers opening by two valves turning upwards. Carpel i, i- 

 chambcred. Seeds i or more. Growing principally in moun- 

 tainous parts of the temperate zones. 



