308 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III, 



sun. After being once established, plants of this species grow with extraor- 

 dinary rapidity till they attain the height of 8 ft. or 10 ft., after which they 

 continue throwing up suckers, and some of these which we have measured in 

 the Fulham Nursery, and in the Goldworth arboretum, were 9 ft. long, 

 and, at the lower end, three fourths of an inch in diameter. It is a most 

 desirable plant, and calculated to produce a splendid effect, both when in 

 flower and when in fruit, upon an open lawn. As a rapid grower, it ought 

 not to be planted near slow-growing shrubs or trees. Price of plants, in the 

 London nurseries, Is. each; at Bollwyller, ? ; in New York,?. 

 Varieties. Mr. Royle has the following remarks. " Under B. aristata, I con- 

 ceive two species have been included, or at least two such very distinct 

 varieties as to require particular notice. These are distinguished by the 

 natives, apt to confound things together, by the names of kushmul and chitra. 

 The former growing at as low elevations as 3000 feet, and therefore easily 

 acclimated in the plains of India, has the leaves and branches pale-coloured, 

 and more thorny; the flowers more numerous, racemes erect, appearing 

 earlier in the season, and having less pleasant-tasted fruit: while chitra, 

 which I conceive to be the true B. aristata, and have not found below 5000 

 feet of elevation, has brownish-coloured branches, smooth, shining, almost 

 entire leaves, each flower much larger than those of kushmul, though less 

 numerous than those on each of the drooping racemes." (Must, $c., p. 64.) 



App. i. Additional Species of Berberis. 



E. WaUichikm. Dec, synon. atro-viridis. A native of the higher 

 parts of Nepal, and, according to Dr. Lindley, " exceedingly well 

 worth procuring, on account of its deep-green evergreen laaves," 

 which will, in all probability, prove hardy. It is figured in Wallich's 

 Plant. Asiat. Rar., t. 243. — B. kunawure'nsis, a native of the Hima- 

 laya, is also a very desirable species. — B. actlnacdntha is mentioned by 

 Dr. Lindley as a very common plant, between Valparaiso and Santiago, 

 which might be easily introduced : besides which, he says, there are 

 other evergreen South American species of great beauty. " Some 

 from the south of Chili particularly were found by Mr. Bridges near 

 Valdivia, with shining holly-like leaves, long racemes of orange- 

 coloured flowers, and young branches covered with rusty down." 

 {Penny Cyc, iv. p. 261.) — B. buxifblia Lam. 111., t. 253. f. 3., and our 

 fi". 55., a small twisted shrub, with bluish purple berries, a native 

 of the Straits of Magellan, would be a desirable acquisition, as it is 

 doubtless as hardy as B. <?mpetrif&lia, p. 306. In the garden of the 

 Horticultural Society there is a berberry raised from seeds received 

 from M. Ledebour, under the name of B. rticifblia, which has not yet 

 flowered, but which is entirely different from the B. heterophylla, synon. B. Hicifolia of the nur- 

 series. Seeds of berberries from distant countries, the same authority observes, " would certainly 

 reach England in safety, if mixed with tenacious earth and rammed into a box," The species both 

 of Berberis and Mahbnfa are so eminently beautiful, that too much can scarcely be said in their 

 favour. 



Genus II. 



MAHO'NZd Nutt. The Mahonia, or Ash Berberry. Lin. Syst. Hexandria 



Monogynia. 



Derivation. Named by Nuttall in honour of Bernard M'Mahon a seedsman at Philadelphia, the 



author of the American Gardener's Calendar, and an ardent lover of botanical science. 

 Identification. Nutt. Gen. Amer., 1. p. 307. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 108. ; Don's Mill., p. 117. 

 Synonymes. Berberis of authors ; Odostfemon Raf. ; Ash Berberry Pen. Cycl. 



Gen. Char. Sepals 6, guarded on the outside by three scales. Petals 6, with- 

 out glands on the inside. Stamens furnished with a tooth on each side at 

 top of the filament. Berries 3— 9-seeded. {Don's Mill., i. p. 118.) — The 

 species are elegant evergreen shrubs with yellow flowers and pinnate leaves. 

 The latter resemble pretty much those of the ash, and hence, doubtless, 

 the name of ash berberry. Natives of the north-west coast of America, and 

 also of Nepal, and perhaps Japan. Though some botanists think that the 



