BARBERRY FAMILY 



I. Berberis. — Spinous shrubs with yellow wood and astringent 

 bark : jv/j/.f 6, deciduous ; petals 6, each with 2 nectaries at the 

 base •. stamens 6 -.fruit berrylike, 1 — 3-seeded. 



^j. Epimedr'm. — Sepals 4, deciduous \pitais 8, in two whorls, 

 inner slipper-shaped ; stiimeus \,ftuit a many-seeded follicle. 



I. Berberis (BarberryV — Leaies spinously-dentate. or reduced 

 to 3 — 7-fid spines ;/7't>H'tv-j in racemes, yello^', with ; or 3 minute 

 hracteoles. (Name said to be of Arabic orisin.) 



I. B. lu'.^dris (^^xhtxxs). The only Britibh species. A pretty 

 shrub, not uncommcn in woods and hedge's, with yellow weed 

 and 3-tbrked spines. Its yellow7/i?r<:'cv-i- hang in drooping clusters ; 

 the f.Iaments are elastic and irri- 

 table, so that when touched ever 

 so lightly by the leg of an insect 

 they spring upward and throw their 

 pollen outward. The oblong berry- 

 like fruits are orange-red when ripe 

 and gratelully acid, and may be made ,^ 

 into an agreeable preserve. The 

 shrub is often rooted out by farmers, gyt'' 

 as a fungus which lives part of its 'AM 

 life on Barberry leaves is the cause 

 of " rust "' in wheat. Several species 

 furnish a vellow dye. and others 

 are cultivated in gardens, as are 

 also several members of the allied 

 genus Mahonia. — Fl. Ma)-, June. 

 Perennial. 



*::. EpI-MEDIUM ( Barrenwort'). — 

 Liavis bi-ternate ; /7c'uv;-.f red, with 



vellow. honev-bearing, inner petals. '"'" ""' '^' ' ' 



(Name of Greek origin, indicating its resemblance to a Median 

 plant. ) 



I.* E. a!pl?]uin (Alpine Bajrenwort'. — A graceful plant, less 

 than a foot high, occurring here and there in subalpine woods in 

 Scotland and the north of England : but <not indigenous. Its 

 delicate green kiirlcts are ovate-cordate, acuminate and serrate. — 

 71. Mav. Perennial. 



Ord. III. — Xyj[ph.€ace.€.— A^'ater-lily Fa:>:ily 



Perennial aquaric herbaceous plants, with generally orbicular 

 floating liazcs which are involute in venation, and large, often 



