BARBERRY FAMILY. 



BERBERIDACE^. 

 Barberry. Berh&ris vulgaris. 



Found on hilly pastures, in roadside thickets, during May and June. 



A shrub, which grows from 3 to 5 or more feet in height, and 

 branches thickly ; it is armed with many needle-like spines, and the 

 bark is gray. 



The leaf is a small ovdl with a rounded tip, its edge beset with 

 many short sharp spines ; its fibre is tough, and surface very smooth, 

 and the color is a light bluish-green. The arrangement is in rosette- 

 like groups of 5 or more leaves. 



The small flower has 6 rounding, concave, yellow petals, a 6-parted 

 calyx, and 6 stamens which curve outward from the circular green 

 pistil and rest their tips in the hollows of the petals. The flowers 

 grow in drooping clusters, hanging from the leafy rosettes all along 

 the ends of the branches with a graceful gesture. 



The fruit, ripe in September and' October, is an oval red berry, 

 sour and puckering to the taste. The wood is a strong yellow color, 

 and the roots gleam in the freshly turned soil like pieces of gold in the 

 dark earth. In some parts of the country the berries are made into a 

 preserve, and the wood is used for dyeing. 



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